The short answer is NO! Read on for the long one.
Developmental editing (also known as substantive editing or structural editing) looks at your text from a bird’s-eye view. This type of editing clarifies or reorganises a document for content, structure, style, tone, length, and level to ensure it is appropriate for your audience. It can include some elements of copy-editing but rather focuses on the macro structure of your text.
I specialise in the developmental editing of narrative non-fiction and memoir. My Afrikaans and English developmental editing pen has, for example, graced the pages of:
> a true crime book about a gruesome family murder (now a feature film that bagged a South African Film and Television Award)
> a self-published cookbook that took top honours at the Gourmand World Cookbook Awards
> a self-help guide for parents on raising teenage boys in the 21st century
> the inspiring story of a Google Science Award winner overcoming a debilitating illness to achieve greatness in the process
WHAT CAN YOU EXPECT?
Suggestions:
• Style and tone
• Repetition and wordiness
• Sentence and paragraph length
• Jargon and non-inclusive language
• Chapter and paragraph organisation
Corrections:
• Language usage
• Basic fact-checking
• Spelling
• Punctuation
• Grammar
Copy-editing (also known as line editing or language editing) focuses on the seven Cs of editing – text that is clear, correct, coherent, complete, concise, consistent, and credible. This type of editing is not about significant rewriting of a document for your audience but rather focuses on the micro structure of your text.
As an Accredited Text Editor (English), I specialise in the copy-editing of reports, textbooks and non-fiction. My Afrikaans and English copy-editing pen has, for example, graced the pages of:
> Cape Town’s public art catalogue
> government reports on urban sustainability
> textbooks on history, languages, physics, life orientation, tourism, and every school subject in between
> books on gardening, crafting, and cooking (uniting South Africans around the braai fire for Heritage Day)
> books on managing your finances, how to be the best you, and the highs and lows of our sports heroes
WHAT CAN YOU EXPECT?
Suggestions:
• Word choice
• Sentence structure
• Artwork placement
Corrections:
• Consistency
• Applying house style
• References, tables and figures
• Spelling
• Punctuation
• Grammar
Website Software