Read time: 4 minutes

After deciding to pursue professional editing and choosing the perfect editor, you have a big decision to make. Which type or types of editing does your manuscript need?

It can be difficult to be objective about your own work's needs, so don't hesitate to reach out to your editor and ask for their opinion.

To help give you a starting place, I've broken down some common types of editing and the order you should pursue them. Note that terminology is not completely standardized across the industry, so always confirm the scope of work with your editor. The definitions below reflect those of the services available from Blue Pen.

Read time: 1 minute

​When proofreading, you can save yourself some time by using the find and replace feature to catch common formatting issues. Use the following checklist to ensure your work is as clean as possible.

For a formatting starting point, click here to grab your free Editing Kit, which includes a standard formatting template.