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Club Ed readers have overwhelmingly asked for more instructor-led classes, so 2021 will include a whole bunch of offerings. The catalog through May 2021 has been added here and you can also see it below. Instructor-led classes for new and aspiring developmental editors Instructor-led classes are held within a specified time period. They feature weekly…

Recently, a developmental editor colleague expressed some frustration around working with indie authors. She had three main areas of concern, and I’m going to address each of these in a blog post. They are all very common concerns. Here’s the first, in her words: “The responsibility. Having someone pay me (hopefully) good money to take…

Once you’ve been editing for a while, you tend to start rolling your eyes at the newbie mistakes writers make. They name their characters Matt, Mark, Mack, Mick, and Mike and expect readers to be able to tell them apart. They invariably start the story in the wrong place and summarize the most important emotional…

Siobhán is a freelance developmental editor who spends her life reading children’s books, watching scary films and drinking unicorn gin. She lives in Surrey, England, with her graphic designer husband and four-year-old son who wants to be a Pokémon when he grows up. Siobhan works directly with authors of middle grade and YA genre fiction, specialising in…

The Importance of Separate Developmental Editing and Copyediting Rounds As I mentioned in my previous blog post, indie authors often want editors to combine DE and CE in one round of editing. I mentioned that one problem with doing this is the likelihood of overwhelming the author. Another problem is the complexity. There’s no point…

A few years ago, my daughter Jessica had several consultations with her neurosurgeon. One day, as the nurse made an appointment for a follow-up visit in six months, she asked, “Do you need a written excuse for work?” And for one mad moment I couldn’t make any sense of what she was saying. I heard…