Your manuscript is done. You think it needs editing. You do not know which kind.
The misdiagnosisThe misdiagnosis is that more editing is always better.
The real diagnosisMore editing in the wrong place is worse. Diagnose which kind you need by what your beta readers said. The notes are the diagnosis.
Diagnosis By Beta Note
| What Beta Said | You Need | Why |
|---|---|---|
| 'The middle dragged.' | Developmental | Structural problem. |
| 'I lost track of who's who.' | Developmental | Character problem. |
| 'The prose is rough in spots.' | Line | Sentence-level. |
| 'I tripped over a few sentences.' | Line | Sentence-level. |
| 'Typos throughout.' | Copy | Mechanical. |
| 'It works. It moved me.' | Final pass + send | You are ready. |
Three Mistakes To Avoid
- Hiring a line editor before structure is solved.
- Hiring a developmental editor on draft fifteen — they'll say cut, which you can't hear.
- Hiring all three back-to-back without taking the feedback in between.
Editing is not how much. It is which one, at which stage, with which question.
Read the beta notes. The notes tell you. Trust the notes.
The dare (not assignment)Take your last three beta notes. Map them to the diagnosis table. Hire what they pointed to. Save yourself.
Image promptTwo pens crossed on a desk — one fine, one bold. Painterly. Cream and sea-green. No people.
— The Book Maven
