From the Editor’s Desk
Writing and editing, explained.
Honest, plain-English guides to writing and editing your book, from the first idea to a manuscript that’s ready to publish.
Honest, plain-English guides to writing and editing your book, from the first idea to a manuscript that’s ready to publish.
Character, structure, and the contradictions of craft advice, straight from the editor’s chair.
Point of view isn’t a vibe. How to deliberately choose the right POV and tense for your story, the trade-offs of each, and the mistakes editors flag most.
Read the guide → Writing CraftWriters obsess over the opening, but a killer first chapter can’t save a book that falls apart after it. What readers really want in your first pages.
Read the guide → Writing CraftA developmental editor’s trick for patching a plot hole without a rewrite: answer the reader’s question in the characters’ own dialogue.
Read the guide → Writing CraftFlaw, arc, motivation, and how to weaponize sympathy and empathy to build characters readers get behind.
Read the guide → Writing CraftWhy they aren’t cheap tricks, when to cut a chapter, and the one rule that keeps a flashback from feeling like lazy telling.
Read the guide → Writing CraftTwo pieces of advice can flatly contradict each other and both still be true. Here’s the missing piece.
Read the guide →Turning a finished draft into a stronger one, before anyone else sees it.
How many times to revise a novel, a layered pass-by-pass framework, and when to bring in a professional editor.
Read the guide →The types of editing, what each one fixes, and how to choose the right editor for your book.
Typical editing rates by type of edit, what drives the price, and what it really costs to edit an 80,000-word novel.
Read the guide → FormattingA step-by-step guide to formatting a book in Word: set up Styles as you draft, prepare a clean manuscript for your editor, then get publish-ready and convert to EPUB.
Read the guide → Choosing an EditorDo you need a book editor near you? Almost never. Why remote editing doesn’t affect quality, the few cases where location matters, and how to choose.
Read the guide → Editing TypesDevelopmental, line, copy, and proofreading, and how to tell which one your manuscript actually needs.
Read the guide → Developmental EditingThe big-picture, story-level edit: plot, pacing, character, and setting, and why it should come first.
Read the guide → Line EditingHow line editing sharpens rhythm, tone, and flow at the sentence level, above the mechanics.
Read the guide → Copy EditingWhat a copy edit fixes, what it leaves alone, and why it’s the foundation of a clean manuscript.
Read the guide → Choosing an EditorHow the marketplace model works, the real alternatives, and how to pick the right editor for your novel.
Read the guide →Send us up to 3,000 words of your manuscript. We’ll return it edited within two days, with tracked changes and comments. No cost, no commitment.