ed·i·tor

/ˈedədər/
noun

  1. a person who is in charge of and determines the final content of a text, particularly a newspaper or magazine.
    "the editor of The Washington Post"
  2. a person who provides editing services to others.
  3. a computer program enabling the user to enter or alter text.
  4. a computer program enabling the user to modify images or graphics.

Types of editing

COPYEDITING

Copyediting is the least-comprehensive version of editing. It is typically a lighter, grammar-only edit, and will not look at the greater meaning of the prose.

LINE EDITING

While often used interchangeably with copyediting, this version of editing is usually a more in-depth analysis of each sentence's structure and meaning, and may include much more substantive edits.

MECHANICAL EDITING

The process of reviewing the prose for specific style rules, such as editing the technical aspects of the text including capitalization, spelling, punctuation, indents and spacing, paragraph & chapter structure and other stylistic rules.

SUBSTANTIVE EDITING

Substantive editing looks at the actual story behind the text. The editor may dramatically change the structure of the text to address big-picture issues with the prose.

Image & Photo Editing

Included for completeness. Image and photo editing are outside the scope of an editor, and are in the realm of the graphic designer and artists. We suggest engaging a qualify graphic designer to help with your graphics, images, or book covers.

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