Copy Editing, Line Editing, and Proofreading
How Inscript Books polishes up your Manuscript
Inscript Publishing offers line editing and copy editing. But what exactly do those mean? What’s going to be done with your manuscript once you turn it over to us? What if you feel your manuscript needs no editing? How do we determine pricing? Let’s look at those questions below.
What is line editing and copy editing?
Copy editing and line editing may have meanings that vary depending on who you talk to. Technically, they are the edits that take place after the author has completed the manuscript, done any preliminary edits, and is ready to begin the publishing process. There are other types of edits that can take place during the life of a manuscript. One of them, developmental or substantive editing, occurs during the manuscript’s creation, so publishers usually do not take part in those types of edits unless the publisher is involved with the manuscript from inception. Another type of edit, proofreading, usually happens after the manuscript is placed in a final design and layout.
Line editing is usually the next step in the editing process. Line editing in publishing is a type of editing that focuses on the style, flow, and clarity of the writing at the sentence and paragraph level. Unlike copyediting (which focuses on grammar, punctuation, and mechanics), line editing looks at how effectively language is used to communicate meaning and maintain the reader’s engagement. A line editor may:
- Refine sentence structure for clarity and rhythm
- Improve word choice and eliminate redundancy
- Enhance tone, pacing, and voice
- Smooth transitions between paragraphs
- Suggest reordering for better narrative or argumentative flow
In short: line editing is about how something is said, not just what is said. It's the art of polishing prose so it reads smoothly, sounds natural, and connects emotionally with readers.
Copy editing refers to the process of reviewing and correcting written material to improve accuracy, clarity, consistency, and style—without changing the author's voice or content. Key tasks of copy editing include:
- Correcting grammar, spelling, and punctuation
- Ensuring consistency in style and formatting (e.g., capitalizations, hyphenation, numerals)
- Improving sentence structure and flow
- Checking for factual accuracy and logical consistency
- Ensuring adherence to a style guide (e.g., Chicago Manual of Style, AP Style)
Copy editing is typically performed after the developmental edit (which focuses on content and structure) and before proofreading (the final check for typos and minor errors in the final layout).
An additional edit, proofreading is the final stage of the editing process where a document is reviewed to catch and correct surface-level errors in:
- Spelling
- Grammar
- Punctuation
- Formatting
- Typos
- Consistency in style (e.g., italicization, quotation marks, page numbers)
Unlike developmental or line editing, which can involve rewriting or restructuring content, proofreading focuses purely on polishing the final version of a manuscript before it's published or printed. It's often done after layout and design to ensure everything appears correctly in the final format.
What’s going to be done with your manuscript once you turn it over to us
If your publishing agreement includes copy and/or line editing, your manuscript will get the “once-over” by a member of our team (yes, we use humans to do edits. Not even AI-editors are good enough to perform all the line edit tasks in the bullet points above). Then, another member of our team goes over it again. Depending on the number of corrections made during the first two passes, a third pass may be warranted. Once the manuscript is formatted, a couple of proofreads are done. We may use an AI-editor as the final stage to ensure we have caught all issues before the title goes to publication. After each stage of editing, we will share all suggested changes with you to get your buy-in or feedback.
What if you feel manuscript needs no editing?
In the years I have been in this business, I have seen countless manuscripts. Rarely have I seen one that requires absolutely NO editing. Authors have sent us manuscripts that have been “edited” by a dear friend, or maybe a kid in college who excelled at English. Maybe they used Microsoft Word’s grammar checker or other AI-aided checkers on the market today. Yet I get these manuscripts and, by doing a line edit, discover several issues on the first few pages. If a professional edit is not done (by “professional,” I mean someone who has studied and earns a living at editing, someone who knows the Chicago Manual of Style or the AP Style Manual like they know their own birthdays), the manuscript will need some level of editing. Many of our authors are shocked at the number of edits that we make, because they thought their manuscripts were decently edited.
Tools such as Microsoft Word grammar checker, the much-advertised Grammarly, or other writing assistance software will suggest changes to be made to your manuscript, but you must have the editing know-how to make appropriate decisions, because sometimes, the software doesn’t always get it right. And no matter how good the software is, there are nuances in a manuscript that only a human can detect. No software can tell you if you named a character Jane in one scene but named the same character Betty in the next. It can’t tell you whether a line of dialogue should have been said by one character instead of the other. It won’t detect that your Scripture reference is incorrect and not even in the Bible. It cannot tell you that the quotation mark you ended a sentence with should have been placed at the end of the next sentence. All these things and more are handled by line and copy editors.
How do we determine pricing?
Our per word cost for line and copy editing varies, with the lower amount charged if the manuscript is clean, with few edits. However, a manuscript with heavy edits would warrant the higher per word cost. We would need to review the manuscript prior to determining the actual cost per word.
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