What Is Editing?

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Editing is the process that involves reviewing, organizing, correcting grammar and spelling, and formatting a piece of content.

Distinct from the content writing process, editing occurs after the content is drafted.

There are four main types of editing:

  1. Developmental editing focuses on the correctness and arguments of the writing to make sure the piece accomplishes its goals. Often, there is a round of revision by the writer after this step. This step is best handled in-house by a subject-matter expert (SME).
  2. Line editing involves examining each line of content and editing it for conciseness and clarity so that each sentence is as impactful as possible.
  3. Copy editing looks at the technical aspects of writing to ensure the piece aligns with the style and editorial guidelines. Copy editing also looks at the proper usage of words, readability, and grammar.
  4. Proofreading is the final step of editing, yet it should not be overlooked as it often catches the final errors and mistakes that can kill conversions.

What Is The Typical Editing Process?

Great editing starts before a piece of content is even written. A writer should be given a brief that includes the topic, keywords being targeted (if the content is meant for SEO), the company style guide, and anything else that needs to be included in the article (such as a call to action at the end or specific headings).

Once the article is returned, the actual editing process begins. 

A Sample Editing Process, Outlined

First, an editor, usually an in-house subject matter expert, conducts developmental editing and reviews the piece for correctness and following the brief. They may have stylistic and substantive content edits to make, and the draft will usually go back to the writer for those changes before it is ready for line editing.

Next up in the process is line editing. In line editing, an editor, either an in-house expert or an outside provider, reads the piece of content in depth and works the writing so that it does its job as well as possible. They look for conciseness, word choice, clarity of thought and argument, and more. This is the editing that makes a piece of content perform.

After line editing is copy editing, which is the practice of technically editing a piece of content to adhere to brand guidelines, the grammar style of choice, and more. The copy editor, usually an outsourced person, ensures that the content across a brand is consistent.

Finally, the piece is proofread. Proofreading is the practice of reading a final draft before it is published. Coming from the world of traditional publishing and typesetting, where it was costly to change the actual type letters once in progress, proofreading does a final review of the copy to catch any final typos or grammar errors before it goes to print (or before the Publish button is clicked on the internet). It is worth noting that some companies like proofreading before developmental and line editing so that those higher-paid editors are not distracted.

Why and Does my content need editing?

Every piece of content needs editing. Whether you’ve been publishing on the internet for decades or are brand new, every piece of content needs to be reviewed before publishing because no writer is perfect.

Editors exist to help writers improve their writing so that it accomplishes the writer’s goal.

Whether the writer is looking to generate an audience, capture leads, or simply educate their audience, an editor takes the written content and uses developmental editing, line editing, copy editing, and proofreading to strengthen it and adhere to brand editorial guidelines.

What is editing (simple answer)?

Editing is the practice of revising text by looking for correctness of facts, clarity of argument, correctness of style and grammar, and review for typos and final errors before publication.

Is Editing A Trained Profession?

Yes, editing is a trained profession! While many “editors” in the marketplace are not professionally trained, many are professionally trained and have their MFA or an advanced degree to prove it.

These editors have studied for years and honed their craft to edit content correctly and confidently and return a top-of-the-line document.

Hiring Editors has changed.

The Old Way

  1. Google around
  2. Research some platforms
  3. Research some editors
  4. Post a gig on a platform
  5. Respond to editors
  6. Speak with editors you found yourself
  7. Try a few out
  8. See deadlines slip
  9. Get a bill bigger than expected
  10. Decide “editing doesn’t work for my business”
  11. Wait a few months
  12. Repeat the process

The EditorNinja Way

  1. Find EditorNinja online
  2. See how we make editing easy
  3. Schedule a friendly demo
  4. Get your questions answered
  5. Subscribe
  6. See when every document will be returned
  7. Publish better content

Isn't that better?

EditorNinja - hire editors without the painful hiring process.

How EditorNinja works

Getting great editing shouldn’t be complicated. Here’s how it works on EditorNinja.

Submit your document

Upload your editing need to our portal in just a few clicks.

We'll review

We’ll make sure everything looks good and assign it to your editor.

Editor Edits

Your dedicated editor works diligently on your editing queue.

Delivered to you

Your documents come back to you ready for review. Review, finalize, and publish!

Ready to learn more?
Book a call with our team to see if EditorNinja is right for you.

Your Word Balance is Zero!

It looks like you’re making great use of EditorNinja. Nice work!

You have a few options from here:

  1. Keep adding documents to your account, knowing that they’ll be edited after your next billing cycle begins.
  2. Add some Anytime Words (one-time purchase, use in the next 12 months) and we’ll start on your overflow documents sooner. Click here to see options.
  3. You can also increase your monthly subscription. Reach out to your contact on our team about this

Remember, you can always adjust priority on documents if you need specific ones back sooner. Just remember to let your editing team know in Slack.

Thank you!