Developmental
Edits
Developmental edits are best for manuscripts that have not had a lot of editorial support thus far. Maybe you don't have a writing group, or maybe your writing group doesn't have a lot of experience with your genre or age category.
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This edit will primarily address structure, character and story arcs, pacing, genre elements, tropes, and worldbuilding techniques. I will make comments and suggestions in the margins and Track Changes will be turned on the entire time, so if I make any suggested changes, you'll be able to see them easily.
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You'll receive an edit letter (Example 1, Example 2, Example 3) along with your marked-up manuscript. I will not provide line edits or proofreading.
Beta
Read
A professional beta read is maybe better known as a late-stage developmental edit. This is for a manuscript that you know is in excellent shape. Your writing group has given good, constructive feedback that hurt a little but ultimately made the book better. You've received professional responses that you're proud of (targeted feedback from an agent, personalized encouragement from an acquiring editor, etc) but you something isn't quite right yet.
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This edit will address all the same things as the developmental edit, but it's less likely to have the need for a full edit letter. You're pretty certain there will be just the One Thing that needs to be identified.
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You will receive an edit letter (even if it is more brief and more focused than a Developmental edit letter) along with your marked-up manuscript. I will not provide proofreading or line editing; there will much fewer comments in the margins than on a developmental edit.
Line
Edit
This is best for self-publishers or for those seeking traditional publication who struggle significantly with the mechanics of writing.
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Track Changes will be turned on and you will be able to see all suggested changes. There will be comments in the margins, but they will be focused on details and not on the big-picture stuff like story arcs or character development.
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This edit focuses on continuity, word choice, sentence construction, repetitions, fact-checking details*, worldbuilding details, anachronisms (and psuedo-anachronisms in fantasy), and will include a proofread that checks for grammar, spelling, punctuation, and basic formatting choices like tabs, spacing, and quotation mark turns.
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You will not receive an edit letter. There will be no notes on story or character arcs, plot, themes, tropes, or genre expectations.
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If your wordcount is wildly outside the publishing industry's expectations for your genre and category, I will not comment on it. This level of editing is for people who love their story exactly as it is, thank you very much, and just want to polish it up as-is.