From Meh to Masterpiece: Developmental Editing is an Indie Author’s Secret Weapon

If you are serious about successfully self-publishing romance novels and making money as an author, you need to invest in developmental editing. It’s the overlooked secret to standing out in a saturated indie publishing marketplace. Keep reading to learn all about how you can use developmental editing to level up your writing.

First of all, what the heck is developmental editing? 

Developmental editing focuses on the structure of a story. In romance, it focuses on ensuring the romantic arc between the characters hits the reader just right, crafting believable individual character growth, and keeping all the secondary plot threads from tangling and getting dropped. 

Many authors haven’t heard of developmental editing, because it’s not as well known as copy editing or even line editing. To further confuse the conversation, it’s also called many other things, like content editing, substantive editing, structural editing, and conceptual editing. 

Our Juicy Details developmental editing comes in two flavors, manuscript critique and full developmental editing. A manuscript critique is a budget-friendly broad overview of your finished draft. It focuses on big picture things that you are doing well and things to improve. It’s a great introduction if you want to try out developmental editing, and are confident in your self-editing skills with some expert guidance. A full developmental edit is a lot more intensive, diving fully into the manuscript with editorial comments, and costs more as a result. However, if you want the tightest, most effective final product, it’s a critical investment in your professional writing future.

Shouldn’t I focus on punctuation and grammar (copy editing) instead?

Copy editing is critical for a polished final product that keeps your readers focused on your story. A book without significant copy errors is a sign of polish and professionalism that you should absolutely focus on and invest in. But, if your characters aren’t realistic, your plot threads get dropped, and your romance isn’t thrilling for readers, all the polish in the world won’t disguise it’s structural flaws. Developmental editing is the foundation that great books are built on, and if you only pay for one type of editing, this is the bang for your buck.

Isn’t a full developmental edit expensive?

Yes and no. Yes, a full developmental edit is usually the most expensive kind of editing you can buy, but if you are serious about writing books professionally, the investment will pay off, not just in your current book, but in your future ones. Developmental editing by its nature focuses on writing craft in a way that is almost always educational for authors. Learning how to fix big picture problems in this book means you won’t recreate them in the next book, and you can focus on leveling up your writing skill with the next developmental edit. Good editors don’t throw every possible thing you can improve on into an edit. They pick a few things that will elevate your storytelling right now, and give you something manageable to work with that won’t make you cry and put your manuscript in a drawer forever. So each new book is an opportunity to get better and better, while ensuring that all the books in your back catalog are as high quality as possible so your readers keep buying them.

Can’t I just have my alpha and beta readers tell me what’s missing in my story?

If you are serious about making a living writing independently published books, readers are never going to give you the expert eye you need to rise above the throng of romance novels being published all the time. While alpha and beta readers are a critical piece of the writing and editing process, they simply don’t have the training to replace a professional editor. If you want to keep your writing a hobby or a side hustle, readers will probably suffice, but they just don’t have the objective eye of an editor. Most alpha and beta readers already support and love an author, and while a good editor is warm and kind in their work, their job is to be honest about the strengths and weaknesses of a story, using best practices and industry standards. 

Okay, I’m convinced that developmental editing is important, what next?

Check out our editing services and then email us to book a developmental edit. We do free sample edits and 10 minute calls to ensure we are a good fit for you and your book. Invest in your future as a successful indie author!