What is a Developmental Edit?

Developmental editing addresses various story elements, including plot holes, character development, story structure, and other issues that arise in relation to story elements. In essence, we’re here to deal with ‘big picture’ issues. For this reason, developmental editing is generally the first step in the editorial process, as it might lead to major changes and re-writes in your novel.

This service includes in-manuscript edits, pointing out specific issues that need addressing, as well as what is known as an ‘editorial letter’, a summary highlighting all the story issues that we’ve come across in your book. This type of edit will not address sentence-level errors such as punctuation or typos. For these types of edits, please see our copy editing services.

Do I Need a Developmental Edit?

A developmental edit will benefit your manuscript if…

• You’ve seeking feedback or guidance on the overall structure, plot, character development, pacing, and other foundational elements of your work

• You want to gain an outside perspective, identify areas for improvement, and elevate your storytelling abilities

What’s Included in a Developmental Edit?

Each developmental edit includes two forms of feedback: editorial comments and an editorial report.

Editorial comments: These are comments using Microsoft Word’s comment feature that provide feedback and point out examples of places where the story can be enhanced or issues can be addressed throughout the manuscript.

Editorial report: This summarizes and clarifies the main areas for improvement in the manuscript, as well as outlining actionable steps to help you resolve these issues.

What Areas Does a Developmental Edit Address?

• Plot, structure, and pacing

• Character motivation and development

• Backstory and worldbuilding

• Point of view and narration

• Tropes and genre expectations

• Story conflict and building tension

• Theme, mood, and tone of writing

Pricing

For a single type of edit our prices are as follows based on word count:

• Up to 75k - $699 USD

• 75k to 100k - $899 USD

• 100k to 125k - $1,099 USD

• Over 125k - Bespoke pricing

A developmental edit can be combined with one or both of our other editing services. Please contact us using the email address below for bespoke pricing including multiple services.

Get In Touch

If you’re interested in this service and a sample edit, please email jasminacoric@littlelionpress.co.uk