Your book’s success hinges on having the right edit performed on your manuscript at the right time.
When you think of editing, what comes to your mind?
I’ve spoken with many indie authors and they often settle on the type that covers fixing misspelled words and adding periods and commas. That’s only a very small part of book editing.
The path to publishing involves many steps, and there are editors who have trained to support indie writers at every stage. However, authors are at times unsure about what services they need to keep their book moving along, and due to this, self-publishing authors often emerge from the editing process unfulfilled because they were not equipped to properly advocate for their book’s needs.
It’s my goal to educate Christian writers on the various aspects of editing so that they can make informed decisions that result in a completed book. Seeing that self-published books make up roughly 40% of all published books on the market*, I want you to be aware of how important it is to produce a high-quality, professional product.
So in the spirit of helping you create something that educates, influences, and changes lives, let’s talk about the four styles of editing.
The 4 Editing Styles
Each editing style builds on the last and produces maximum benefit when performed in a specific order. For example, you want to address the issues of structure and storytelling before you edit a sentence. It would be frustrating and pointless to edit words you might decide to scrap, so when seeking to edit your work, you should look for a developmental editor first, followed by a line editor, then a copyeditor, and finally, a proofreader. As we get into what each style of editing accomplishes, it will make sense why it should be done this way.
Developmental Editing
You’ve probably guessed that developmental editing deals with getting the story straight. This is where a lot of heavy lifting happens: rearranging of entire chapters and major rewrites are anticipated during this stage. For nonfiction writers, a heading system that works within your chapters will emerge.
Line Editing
Line editing is exactly what it sounds like — editors that perform this edit will comb through your manuscript line at the sentence level. You’re not performing as much surgery to the content as you would during the developmental edit, but there may still be some minor rewriting and word usage suggestions for better sentence flow.
Some line editors may perform fact-checking at this level, such as ensuring location names are spelled and capitalized correctly. They might also check that in-text citations are consistent throughout. However, some editors (like me) may cover these issues during the copyediting phase.
Copyediting
In the wild you might encounter this editing style written as copyediting or copy editing. They mean the same thing and both refer to spellchecks, adding or removing words, correcting and enforcing consistent punctuation usage (there you are, Oxford comma), and identifying subtle, author-specific style choices like the use of contractions or spacing preferences before and after an em dash. They will add those style choices to something called a style sheet, which is simply a document that showcases your style choices to be used in future copyedits. Editors at this stage will also check your reference lists and footnotes and ensure uniform formatting, such as paragraph indentations being consistent.
Proofreading
By the time you reach the proofreading phase, your manuscript should be properly formatted to your selected book size. This is appropriate because a proofreader is the final editor before your book is placed on the market. They’ll perform light copyedits that may have slipped through the cracks and round out any formatting issues..
I know what you’re thinking: Tacoi, this seems like a lot. And yes, it can be costly in ways beyond simple monetary value. That’s why I’m giving you my professional recommendation on how you can still publish your book and save on time and money.
Getting Real: Publishing Costs and What’s Necessary to Make Your Book a Success
Self-publishing provides a level of freedom for guiding your book into the market that isn’t always offered with publishing houses; however, where publishers front the cost for getting your book ready for publishing, indie authors foot the bill themselves. Not only are you trying to build a following as an author, you are also a business and a brand, and businesses have operating costs.
With that said, indie authors can expect to pay between $2,000—$5,000 for the entire publishing journey. This includes things like editing costs, front and back cover designs, and marketing campaigns.
Seeing numbers like these can make becoming a published author feel like a pipe dream. Many of us aren’t well-known Christian authors yet. We work regular 9-to-5 jobs. And in this economy, money is tight.
I’ve worked with authors and sat in on publishing conferences, and what I’ve gathered is there are two types of editing that are absolutely crucial to turning your manuscript into a book. Here they are, with my opinion on why they matter:
Developmental editing
Remember that developmental editing does a lot of heavy lifting of your content in terms of structure and organization. You want your readers to connect with your writing and finish the book, which can turn them into lifetime readers of your work. This is accomplished through careful curation of your book at the developmental editing stage.
An additional note: Developmental editing is the most expensive of the types of editing due to how involved your editor is in the process. You could save a few more dollars at this stage by seeking out an editor who can perform what is called a manuscript evaluation. It is a high-level developmental edit — the editor won’t provide comments on each and every chapter of your work or necessarily offer solutions to fix the challenges they identify; they will address issues on a macro level. With this approach, you can receive feedback on your manuscript’s big picture and tackle those issues yourself during your rewrite.
Copyediting
Copyediting is absolutely necessary to ensure the success of your book. Because independent authorship has boomed in the last few years and really changed the landscape of the publishing industry, it’s important to produce a professional work that stands out. I can’t tell you how many posts I’ve read from disappointed readers (myself included) about how distracting misspelled words and run-on sentences are for the reading experience. This alone makes a copyedit worth every penny.
If you’re someone who believes this step should be circumvented with AI technology — don’t. I recommend working with a professional editor for every step of your publishing journey. Though AI is growing rapidly, it is still learning and simply doesn’t understand all the nuances of language as much as a real person who is constantly immersed in the language.
There is a lapse in the information available to indie authors that will help them make decisions that benefit their writing. This article is just one of many I hope to produce to shed light on what it takes to become a published author. Authorship in any form has its own challenges, but indie authors especially struggle because they don’t have a team to guide them. Please consider The Anointed Editorial to be the team you need to get your book out into the world. We really need your words.
References
* May, Natty. “Self-Publishing is Changing the Book Industry: Here’s What the Data Shows.” April 22, 2026. Updated May 11, 2026. ISBNDB. https://isbndb.com/blog/self-publishing-is-changing-the-book-industry/#the-self-publishing-market-at-a-glance.
This article was first published on Substack.
Featured photo by Mikhail Pavstyuk on Unsplash