What is a Developmental Editor?
A Guide
from the Spark of an Idea
to a Finished Manuscript
Developmental Editors Collaborate with Writers:
To create the Foundation for their Novel or Memoir
To create the Foundation for their Narrative Nonfiction book, Or Self-Help book for the general reader.
To revise a Partial or Complete Manuscript
To polish a Manuscript before Self-Publishing or Submission to an Agent or Publisher
To write their Book Proposal: Comp Titles, Audience Analysis, Structure, Annotated Table of Contents, Several Chapters
Creating the Foundation for a Book
There is an idea that has been haunting you for a long time. It’s an idea that is meaningful enough, interesting enough, or entertaining enough to warrant a book. You want to write that book, but you don’t know where to begin.
A Developmental Editor is someone who meets with you weekly, biweekly or once a month to help you:
To create the Foundation for their Novel or Memoir
To create the Foundation for their Narrative Nonfiction book, Or Self-Help book for the general reader.
To revise a Partial or Complete Manuscript
To polish a Manuscript before Self-Publishing or Submission to an Agent or Publisher
To write their Book Proposal: Comp Titles, Audience Analysis, Structure, Annotated Table of Contents, Several Chapters
Creating the Foundation for a Book
There is an idea that has been haunting you for a long time. It’s an idea that is meaningful enough, interesting enough, or entertaining enough to warrant a book. You want to write that book, but you don’t know where to begin.
A Developmental Editor is someone who meets with you weekly, biweekly or once a month to help you:
- Clarify your book idea, so you know the point of your book and why readers browsing in bookstores will want to purchase your book
- Find the structure of a nonfiction book or the shape of a story for a novel or memoir
- Conceptualize the narrative arc and the emotional arc of your character(s) so there is a driving cause-and- effect trajectory from the beginning to the end of your novel or memoir that keeps readers engaged
- Create a nonfiction book with an overarching structure, with chapters that link ideas together to clearly articulate main ideas, and that guide readers on a transformational journey of personal growth, knowledge, or the acquisition of important skills.
- Create a work of narrative nonfiction that artfully weaves together research and story
Manuscript Evaluation
But maybe, you’ve moved from having an idea to actually writing your book. Unfortunately, you’re stuck. You can’t go any further. Or maybe, you’ve completed your book, but it is far from what you dreamed it would be. You have no idea how to move forward.
A Developmental Editor is someone who reads your partial or complete manuscript to identify where it’s working, where it’s not working and, most importantly, why. Detailed comments on each page in combination with an editorial summary move you forward and guide your revision efforts.
But maybe, you’ve moved from having an idea to actually writing your book. Unfortunately, you’re stuck. You can’t go any further. Or maybe, you’ve completed your book, but it is far from what you dreamed it would be. You have no idea how to move forward.
A Developmental Editor is someone who reads your partial or complete manuscript to identify where it’s working, where it’s not working and, most importantly, why. Detailed comments on each page in combination with an editorial summary move you forward and guide your revision efforts.
What is a Developmental Editor?
A Developmental Editor is an avid reader, a project manager, a coach, a teacher, a cheerleader, a guide, a support, a knowledgeable professional in all things related to getting a book started, completed, and polished.
I would like to talk with you about your Book Project and answer all your questions.
Learn more about services for life stories, memoir, nonfiction, and fiction by clicking on the buttons below.
A Developmental Editor is an avid reader, a project manager, a coach, a teacher, a cheerleader, a guide, a support, a knowledgeable professional in all things related to getting a book started, completed, and polished.
I would like to talk with you about your Book Project and answer all your questions.
Learn more about services for life stories, memoir, nonfiction, and fiction by clicking on the buttons below.
