Developmental Editing
As a developmental editor, I assist the author in conceptualizing the manuscript (either before it is written or after an initial draft). We discuss goals and target audience and then work on conceptual continuity and logical flow by developing or refining the table of contents. We discuss the contents of each chapter or section. I may work directly with the draft text to help develop the form of the manuscript, eliminate redundancies, and identify substantive gaps. I may create front and back matter from draft copy. Once the manuscript is developed, it is ready for copyediting.