Structural Editing

Structural editing, also known as developmental or substantive editing, is a more in-depth assessment of your manuscript. The goal is to refine the flow, rhythm and clarity of the work, and ensure that the tone, voice, point of view, and style are consistent and suitable to meet both the target readership and the publisher's editorial style. When editing for structure, I consider the actual sequence of sentences, phrases and paragraphs as well as their logical and orderly flow, and if there are any redundant or repetitive sections or chapters. As this type of edit may also involve reworking sections of the text, improving awkward phrasing, and working closely with you to clarify your intention, it is best completed prior to any copyediting or proofreading work.

For complete manuscripts submitted, you will receive a comprehensive editor’s report, focusing specifically on narrative structure, plot and subplot development, and the setting of your story. Also included is a chapter breakdown, which is compiled on the first read-through. On subsequent read-throughs, questions, comments and suggestions are recorded for your consideration within the editor’s report, with notes on where they occur in the manuscript to keep the copy clean. The only changes recorded (electronically or on paper) are small errors or inconsistencies. Character and location descriptions are noted down as they occur throughout the story, and a character development analysis is also provided.

The editor’s report also features a style sheet to ensure the consistency of textual elements such as spelling, capitalisation, hyphenation and abbreviations; heading hierarchies; the style of numbers, dates, percentages, symbols, equations; as well as descriptions, names and terms.

Estimated fee: 3 to 5 cents per word.

Please note that the above fee is only an estimate, and it is based on jobs that are 10,000 words or more. The actual quote will be provided once I have received a final draft of your manuscript. This will ensure that the quote is based on your specific editing needs. You can request a no-obligation quote by submitting the form on my Contact page.