I think a lot of people believe that when writing spills out of you that it becomes its own separate entity. You might clean it up with some light grammatical editing, but the way it came out is the best way that it should be. 

This is not strictly true. Working with your text does not mean a lack of authenticity in your writing. By properly massaging your text, you take it from a raw, natural state into a polished form. Essentially, you mold the copy to fit the purpose it was created for! Yes, I’m talking about editing again.

Let’s go through seven different types of editing:

1. Proofreading, or mechanical editing – basically checking for grammatical errors which includes looking at spelling, capitalization, punctuation, format, noun-pronoun agreement, verb usage, and sentence structure. 
2. Developmental and structural editing – often the first step of content and copy editing and used for books, research papers, and articles. An editor checks the content and looks at the big picture, structure, and writing quality or tone. 
3. Evaluation editing – an evaluation edit checks the flow, structure, and completeness of your piece. 
4. Line editing – the most time-consuming type, this is exactly what it sounds like: going line by line and looking at tonality, accuracy, content clarity, and consistency. 
5. Fact-checking – informational inconsistencies absolutely must not enter into your business copy! Having an independent fact-checker can save you a lot of grief in the long run.
6. Rewriting – based on conclusions from the previous types of editing, your editor may ask you to rewrite sections. 
7. SEO boosting – for business and web writing especially, SEO boosting means adding keywords and key phrases into your copy that will raise your chances of being found by new, prospective clients. 

Does this sound overwhelming? That’s where I come in. Set up a consultation with me to guide you through the editing process or to provide a second pair of eyes.