Courses: Self-Paced
Self-paced classes can be accessed for eighteen months after purchase and allow you to go at your own pace. Read the materials and do the lessons when you have time. There is no instructor feedback, but exercises and answer keys help you understand how to put the principles into practice.
Class Package: DE 1 through 6
$350 (Members: $315) | How to become a developmental editor | 15 lessons | Self-paced | Beginner This class package bundles together all six self-paced Essentials of Developmental Editing classes for a lower price than purchasing each class individually: DE 1: Foundations of Storytelling DE 2: Principles of Developmental Editing DE 3: Writing Effective Editorial…
Club Ed for Editors membership program – yearly
Need some help finding clients, making better money, and staying productive? Or would you just like to feel a little less alone as you go about your day? The Club Ed Membership Program for Editors is meant for freelance editors at every stage of their career, from those exploring what editing is to those who’ve…
DE 1: Foundations of Storytelling
$90 (Members: $81) | How to edit novels | 4 lessons | Self-paced | Beginner This class starts at the beginning: what a novel is, how genres work, how readers read. You’ll learn not just the definition of story conflict but how to identify it when you see it. You’ll learn what GMC stands for…
DE 2: Principles of Developmental Editing
$90 (Members: $81) | How to edit novels | 4 lessons | Self-paced | Beginner This class covers the ABCs of the practice of developmental editing of fiction: understanding the developmental editor’s role how developmental editing differs from other types of editing and feedback questions to ask when developmental editing the mechanics of developmental editing…
DE 3: Writing Effective Editorial Queries
$60 (Members: $54) | How to write editorial queries | 2 lessons | Self-paced | Beginner In developmental editing, much of the guidance we provide to authors takes place in the editorial queries. This self-paced class provides information about best practices for developmental editors, particularly for fiction. The class includes a thorough description of effective…
DE 4: Writing the Revision Letter
$60 (Members: $54) | How to write a revision letter | 3 lessons | Self-paced | Intermediate The revision letter, which provides the overview of your main editorial findings and suggestions, is a crucial component of the developmental edit, but they are easy to get wrong – including the wrong information, prioritizing the wrong revisions,…
DE 5: Manuscript Evaluation
$60 (Members: $54) | How to do a manuscript assessment, evaluation, or critique | 3 lessons | Self-paced | Intermediate This class teaches you how to add the additional service of manuscript evaluation to your menu of offerings. This is a great option for authors not ready for a full developmental edit who just need…
DE 6: Evaluating Your Effectiveness as an Editor
$60 (Members: $54) | How to evaluate your editorial skills | 2 lessons | Self-paced | Intermediate As a freelancer, you don’t have a boss or coworkers giving feedback about your performance. If you work primarily for indie clients, your clientele may not even know what effective editing looks like. What if there are better…
So You Want to Be an Editor
$90 (Members: $81) | So you want to be an editor | 6 lessons | Self-paced | Beginner The class is entirely online and asynchronous (you don’t have to be in any particular place at any particular time to participate).
Editing Science Fiction and Fantasy
$90 (Members: $81) | How to edit science fiction and fantasy | 4 lessons | Self-paced | Intermediate This class discusses the basics of the developmental editing of science fiction and fantasy novels. The class covers: basic conventions of the genre (reader expectations)—what to do when authors violate these and how to tell when they…
DE Detective
$90 (Members: $81) | How to use sentence-level clues to track down developmental problems | 4 lessons | Self-paced | Intermediate This class is meant for working with fiction authors. When a manuscript has obvious problems, they’re, well, obvious. The overemphasis on backstory has slowed the pacing to a crawl, the POV hops from head…
Editing Mystery/Thriller/Suspense
$90 (Members: $81) | How to edit mystery, thriller, and suspense novels | 4 lessons | Self-paced | Intermediate This class walks you through the principles of developmentally editing the related genres of mystery, suspense, and thriller. It covers: Understanding genre conventions Helping authors create a strong central conflict Keys to building tension and suspense…
Editing Novels in a Series
$90 (Members: $81) | How to edit novels written as part of a series | 3 lessons | Self-paced | Intermediate Editing series work is complex. You need to edit for all of the usual issues as well as series-related issues, such as the protagonist being an only child in Book 1 and having four…
Editing Short Stories and Novellas
$90 (Members: $81) | How to edit short stories and novellas | 4 lessons | Self-paced | Intermediate This class discusses the basic expectations for various types of short fiction, ranging from flash fiction up through novellas and focuses on how DE differs when it is applied to short fiction and novellas as opposed to…
Editing the Romance
$90 (Members: $81) | How to edit romance novels | 4 lessons | Self-paced | Intermediate In this class, you’ll learn the basics of the developmental editing of romance. The class covers: basic conventions of the genre (reader expectations)—what to do when authors violate these and how to tell when they have differences among various…
Evolution of a Novel
$90 (Members: $81) | How the novel revision process works | 4 lessons | Self-paced | Intermediate For writers, editors, book coaches, and critique partners interested in learning about the revision process. Follow along as an author shows how her vision for a novel changes from the original draft to the final published version. Identify…
Explorations: Editing Literary Fiction
$90 (Members: $81) | How to edit literary fiction | 4 lessons | Self-paced | Intermediate This class explores the concept of literary fiction and what to consider when editing such novels. It discusses what we mean by “literary fiction” and how it differs from genre fiction (if it does). It looks at perspective, the…
How to Edit Query Letters, Synopses, and More!
$90 (Members: $81) | How to edit query letters, synopses, and more | 4 lessons | Self-paced | Intermediate This class is meant for editors who would like to offer additional services to authors beyond manuscript editing. In this class, you’ll learn how to edit: query letters and story synopses for authors planning to follow…
Naked Editing: Self-Paced Version
$60 (Members: $54) | Learn what a developmental edit looks like | 3 lessons | Self-paced | Intermediate This class is meant for writers and editors, new and experienced, who are interested in following along as a developmental edit unfolds on a complete fiction manuscript. It is a reading-intensive class. Note: Recent current events force…
Notes on Editing Memoir
$40 (Members: $36) | How to edit memoir | 4 lessons | Self-paced | Intermediate This class is informational-only, meaning you will not complete assignments based on the lessons. I do recommend that you read a few published memoirs as you work through the material. Notes on Editing Memoir will help you understand the distinction…
Payoffs: Editing for Powerful Story Resolutions
$80 (Members: $72) | How to edit for powerful story resolutions | 4 lessons | Self-paced | Intermediate This class is called “Payoffs” for a reason, and that’s because readers want their investment in a story to be paid off. They want to feel rewarded after they close the book. They want to feel it…
Point-of-View and Perspective for Editors
$100 (Members: $90) | How to edit for point-of-view and perspective | 5 lessons | Self-paced | Intermediate This class goes beyond the basics of head-hopping to dive deep into problems in perspective and POV. It goes past simple distinctions such as first versus third to dive into close third versus omniscient third versus limited…
Understanding Goal-Motivation-Conflict for Editors
$80 (Members: $72) | How to edit for goal-motivation-conflict | 4 lessons | Self-paced | Intermediate When it requires three cups of full-strength coffee to get past the first chapter of the novel manuscript you’re editing, you’re probably dealing with a story that lacks goal-motivation-conflict (GMC). Unlike in our personal lives, in fiction we need…
Editing Mainstream and Upmarket Fiction
$80 (Members: $72) | How to edit mainstream and upmarket fiction | 4 weeks | Self-paced | Intermediate What is mainstream fiction? How is it different from genre fiction and literary fiction? And what is this thing called upmarket fiction? Where does that fit into the literary world? In this class, we’ll explore those questions….
Starting Your Editing Business
$90 (Members: $81) | How to start your editing business | 4 lessons | Self-paced | Intermediate This class helps new editors start and grow their editing business, whether copyediting, developmental editing, coaching, or some combination. Each lesson includes information on topics such as: finding your purpose identifying your potential clients conducting a personal skills…
Finding (and Landing!) Indie Author Clients
$80 (Member price: $72) | How to land indie author clients | 4 lessons | Self-paced | Intermediate If you’re looking to build a sustainable freelance editing business, this class is for you! I’ve designed it for editors who have landed a few clients but want to figure out how to create a consistent flow…
