Our Book Editors

Almost all writers should start with manuscript assessment. It’s quite likely to be the only editorial service they ever need. (Manuscript assessments are also called editorial assessments or structural feedback. Minor differences aside, these all refer to the same thing.)

A manuscript assessment offers deep analysis of every major element of your book: plot, character, settings, pacing, prose style, and more. Your editor won’t rewrite the book for you (that’s definitely your job), but they will tell you, in detail, what’s working, what’s not working, and how to fix the bits that aren’t yet right. You’ll be given plenty of examples and whatever further editorial advice seems helpful. The emphasis is always on constructive, actionable feedback.

At Jericho Writers, our editorial reports are a minimum of 3,000 words long. All of our editors are very experienced. We don’t work with anyone who doesn’t meet our standards and we have a superb track record of helping writers through to publication.
The service is suitable for all works of fiction and non-fiction, including memoir and including Young Adult or Middle Grade fiction for kids. Details of our children’s manuscript assessment can be found here.

If you are on a budget and only want an opening section review, then we can offer that too – it’s the same basic service but involves less text and shorter reports.

A developmental edit (or “dev edit”) involves everything you get from a manuscript assessment, but also includes detailed line-by-line comments on your manuscript and a one-hour follow up by phone with your editor.

This is the most rigorous, most challenging – and most costly – version of editing. It’s really suitable only for authors who are confident that their manuscripts are getting close to publication-ready. It’s conventionally the last (optional) step before submission to agents.
If you’re not sure whether developmental editing is right for you, you can book a free consultation with one of our team. In most cases, we’ll be likely to guide you to a cheaper option.

Copy editing is the most common form of text correction for authors. Copy-editing will focus on eliminating grammatical and factual errors in the text and will improve overall readability and consistency within your writing. Your editor will make changes using tracked changes (or a suitable alternative) directly onto your manuscript.

Some form of copy-editing is essential if you are planning to self-publish. If you are aiming to submit to traditional publishers via agents, you probably don’t need copy-editing, unless there are specific reasons otherwise (for example, dyslexia, or writing in English as a foreign language.)

If you want a deeper version of copy-editing – one that also tackles clumsily written sentences and aims to improve flow and clarity – you can ask for line-editing.

Proof reading is the lightest form of text correction and is really only suitable for text that has already been copy-edited and for authors who want a near-perfect manuscript prior to publication. The editor will identify simple typos or in-text errors. You will receive a marked-up manuscript, however any changes will be minimal compared to the other text correction services.

Seeking editorial advice should not be a passive process. On the contrary: the magic happens in the interaction between you and your editor.

To get the most from your editor, you should do as much as you can on the book before submitting it to us. So don’t just reach the final full-stop, then send the book out. You need to self-edit your work as rigorously as you can first. That way, the editor will be solving genuinely difficult and important problems, not just things that you could have found and solved by yourself.

As a rough rule of thumb, you should continue to self-edit your work until either you find yourself going round in circles or you know there’s something not quite right, but you can’t confidently identify the issue. That’s the point at which you will get maximum benefit from a professional editor.

And when you receive your feedback – be prepared! The typical reactions include a mixture of shock – you wanted the book to be perfect, and it isn’t – and relief. The relief comes from finally understanding what the issues are and being given a path to fixing them. Be assured that the relief (and energy release) will soon take over from any initial shock.

Our editors are all either:

A) Experienced editors from major publishing houses; or B) Experienced authors.

We make extensive use of professional authors, for the same reason that carpenters are usually the best people to teach carpentry: this is a practical task, and you’ll often get the best advice from hands-on, working practitioners.

That said, we also use well-qualified editors from publishing houses, but only those with a real passion for the task of editing itself. (Although the job title is ‘editor’, in practice the role covers management of the entire publication process from acquisition to production to marketing.)

As a very broad guide, authors often make the best editors for newer writers (where the practitioner-type advice is most important) and publisher-editors often make the best editors for later stage writers (where knowledge of the publishing market becomes more relevant.) But that’s a broad rule only. We allocate manuscripts to editors based on genre, author, specific editorial issues, an editor’s specific experience and passions, and so on. It’s our job to find the right editor for you.

We don’t use any editor who doesn’t meet our standards, and we check every editorial report before it goes out to the client. We aim to be the best and work hard to make sure we live up to that aim.

The cost of an editorial service is dependent on the service you require and your wordcount. The services that require a lighter editorial touch, such as proofreading, will be on the cheaper end of the scale. However, the more in-depth level of editing you need, the more expensive the fee will be. When you choose your editorial service, just enter your wordcount for an immediate quote.

Some authors will find they need another round of edits even after purchasing a professional review. This is normal – and unlike some other online companies, we are very upfront about that. This doesn’t necessarily mean that you’ll need to pay for a second or third professional edit – you may be able to handle another round of edits yourself or with the help of a beta reader. But you should be prepared to go on editing until the day your book is published. (Your book will get better with every round of edits.)

At Jericho Writers, we pride ourselves in providing services we would value ourselves, with editors we truly believe in. So if you’re in any doubt about whether your manuscript is in fact ready for a professional edit, then get in touch with our Writer Support team, and we’ll offer you honest (and free) advice on your next steps.

We’re confident that we’re the best at what we do. That’s why we offer a guarantee for all the editorial work we undertake.

We promise:

• To give you a stringent, in-depth editorial report.
• To use an expert book editor with authority in the industry.
• To consider the market for your manuscript.
• To be honest and constructive.
• To respect your copyright.
• To pitch your work to agents on your behalf if, in our view, it is strong enough to be marketed. We will always seek your permission first.
• To advise you honestly and in good faith.