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What is Substantive Editing?

Substantive editing includes feedback, critiques, and comments to make a piece of writing better (for manuscripts this includes improving things like the plot, character development, theming, etc.). This type of editing includes suggestions to better the writing that the original writer than decides whether to implement or not. It can also be referred to as sub editing, developmental editing, or content editing.

Substantive editing is the very first step in the editing process for any piece of writing. This is because you want to make sure you're happy with the content itself before bothering with things like spellcheck. It's not worth proofreading a sentence that may not be there or may look very different after developmental edits are through, so don't waste your time copyediting until after substantive editing is all done.

Substantive Editing Includes:

  • Plot
  • Structure
  • Flow
  • Transitions
  • Character Development
  • Theming
  • Genre Standards
  • Pacing
  • Tone and Style
  • Conflict
  • Worldbuilding
  • Hooks

and more! Substantive editing helps with improving the actual substance and writing of your content.

Inclusive Editing Tips

  • Avoid jargon
  • Use inclusive pronouns 
  • Check for assumptions 
  • Check for stereotypes 
  • Check for generalizations 
  • Check for bias 
  • Use inclusive titles like police officer NOT policewoman or policeman
  • Know the guidelines for how to reference different groups and communities

“70 Inclusive Language Principles That Will Make You A More Successful Recruiter (Part 1)” by Nehemiah Green is one of the best online guides I’ve found that talks about many things you need to know to edit for inclusive language. 

ConsciousStyleGuide.com is another great place to find information about how to be inclusive in your writing. I highly recommend joining their informative newsletter!

Genre Editing

What genre are you working on? Who is in your audience and what do they want? What does the readership expect from this content medium? 

These are the things you need to know in order to have a firm grasp on the audience that will be consuming the content. 

The audience for a fantasy novel is going to be different to edit for than the audience for a nonfiction novel. Content that people will read on the internet needs to be edited and formatted differently than content in a brochure. 

Likewise, content written for 40 to 50-year-olds might need different edits than content for 10 to 12-year-olds. 

Learn as much as you can about the intended audience and the genre before you edit. Below I'll go over some editing advice I have for a few of the genres I have worked on as an editor.

Web Content

Below is a brief list of some items to remember when editing content for the web: 

  • Short, 1-2 sentence paragraphs
  • Lots of space between lines and paragraphs
  • Keep the heading hierarchy simple
  • 5th-grade reading level, conversational, informal 
  • Use bullet points and steps 
  • Make it scannable 
  • Use examples, data, and images

Fiction Content

Below is a brief list of some items to remember when editing novels: 

  • Plot 
  • Compelling conflicts 
  • Show vs tell 
  • Dialogue 
  • Chapter sequencing
  • Logical sequence of events
  • Plot holes 
  • Themes
  • Character development

Nonfiction Content

Below is a brief list of some items to remember when editing nonfiction writing:

  • Fact check everything
  • Dates 
  • Statements of fact
  • Statistics 
  • Data
  • Names of real people and places