Book Editing

Editing isn’t just for amateurs. Professional authors have their books edited several times before publication, including bestsellers like Steven King, JK Rowling and Malcolm Gladwell.

Elevate your book with Palmetto’s comprehensive book editing services. Our experienced editors proofread and edit your manuscript, carefully reviewing its structure, tone, and textual flow to ensure a polished outcome. With a keen eye for detail, they also thoroughly check for grammar, punctuation, and spelling errors, resulting in a professional, high-quality manuscript ready to be printed. Learn more about all of our professional editing services below!

Professional Editing Services

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Copy Editing

$300 for up to 10k words, then $.03 per word

  • Sentence-level edits to improve clarity
  • Technical edit highlighting grammar, punctuation, and spelling

Line Editing

$380 for up to 10k words, then $.038 per word

  • Stylistic editing looking at high-level structural, organizational, and content concerns
  • Suggestions for improving tone and organization
  • A look at spelling, grammar, and punctuation but not a complete focus
A editor highlighting a manuscript.
A woman working at her computer.

Developmental Editing

$900 for up to 10k words, then $.09 per word

  • Manuscript assessment on plot, structure, and point of view
  • Commentary on characterization and character arcs
  • A look at recurring themes
  • Receive actionable advice on how to tighten the language and focus on the message for the intended audience. This may be beneficial if you want to increase or reduce the word count.

Book Editing Services

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Line Editing 

Line editing comes before copy editing. Where copy editors are concerned with mechanics, line editors are concerned primarily with questions of style. Line editing involves editing a book sentence by sentence (or line by line) to upgrade the prose, always keeping the craft in mind. A line edit ensures that your book’s content is consistent while its language is creative and concise.

Line editing involves correcting word choice, sentence effectiveness, suggestions for better ways to say something, and apparent inconsistencies. This is the most popular editing choice for our authors. 

Line editors read while keeping attention to detail, maintaining an interest in the way language works at the sentence level, and appreciating the flow of the story.

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Copy Editing

Any book or manuscript can benefit from copy editing. Copy editing focuses less on the big picture and more on the details of the language. Hence, a copy editor ensures that the language in a manuscript follows standard English rules and adheres to the Chicago Manual of Style, the standard in trade publishing. Copy editing services check for accuracy, consistency, grammatical errors, spelling, syntax, and punctuation. 

Most books go through at least one round of line editing and one round of copy edits. Copy editing is intended to be a final review of the manuscript after the content has been fully edited. Skipping copy editing may considerably lower the quality of a finished product.

Developmental Editing

Typically, the first stage of the editing process is the developmental edit. Developmental book editing is our most involved option, as it requires the most time and effort to uncover and identify the “big-picture” problems underlying your story. 

We pair our experienced developmental editors with authors to guide them in conceiving the topic, planning the overall structure, and developing an outline. We complete the round of edits and give authors a chance to review them before moving forward. 

With this service, you can expect an extensive markup with many suggestions on improving the story or manuscript, helping the flow and enriching the story, and evaluating the book as a whole so it all makes sense.

Why Palmetto Publishing?

Professional and highly experienced book editors

Our book editors are experienced professionals with a keen eye for detail and a strong understanding of various writing styles. They can provide valuable feedback to improve your book’s quality.

Tailored book editing services

We know all authors are different. That’s why we provide several book editing options and can tailor them to your needs.

Communication

We value open communication and will work closely with you to ensure we edit your book to your liking.

Palmetto Publishing’s Book Editing Process

1

Work with your publishing consultant to determine which type of book editing to include in your publishing package.

2

Submit your manuscript to your project manager for your first round of editing.

3

Your editor will complete edits directly in Microsoft Word and will provide an editorial letter. This letter will offer insights into edits that aren’t line specific, such as why they made certain edits and examples of trends in the writing.

4

After each round of editing, you’ll receive a proof to review on your own time. Here, you can accept or decline each suggested edit.

5

For manuscripts with higher word counts, the potential for errors increases. After completing the first round of edits, your editor may recommend a second round to polish the manuscript further.

Additional Self-Publishing Services

Interior Formatting

Editing

Printing

See Why Authors Love Working With Us

We’ve helped many authors captivate readers through our book illustration services. See what they’re saying about Palmetto Publishing!

Chronicles of the Empyrean by Jasper Mills
Five Star Rating

“I am so pleased with Palmetto. I felt like I was working with right people, the moment I got off the consultation call. My project manager Erin M. was excellent! Answered my questions quickly and kept the project moving forward. The design team that put the cover together, did an outstanding job. But the editors take the cake: not only did they clean up my story, but they taught me numerous nuances about the art of writing. I wrote a story, Palmetto Publishing made it a book. I highly recommend Palmetto if you are self-publishing your book.”

Jasper Mills

FAQ

Why does your book need editing?

What kind of books do we edit?

Palmetto Publishing can edit all genres of books, including:

  • Fiction
  • Nonfiction
  • Children’s books
  • Poetry
  • Self-help 
  • Cookbooks 
  • Memoirs

How long is our book editing process?

The timeline for fully editing a book depends on factors such as word count, the number of editing rounds included in the package, and the time it takes for authors to review the edits. Authors review edits at their own pace, and we want to make sure every author takes the time they need to assess the edits fully. The length of the book editing process also relies heavily on the author’s responsiveness.

Each round of Copy and Line editing takes a minimum of seven days and can increase by approximately two days per 10,000 words in the manuscript. Developmental editing is a minimum of 10 business days, with two extra days for every 10,000 words. We deliver all edits via Microsoft Track Changes.