Developmental editing strengthens your book at any stage of the writing process.

If you’ve completed a draft, I’ll read it with great care and make substantial, detailed recommendations about how you can improve the content, organization, tone, and writing style. 

But you don’t need to have finished your manuscript to benefit from developmental editing. I can start working with you early on, honing your book concept, building a robust outline, and providing guidance on the parts you haven’t yet written.

I can also advise you about reference citations, illustrations, and permissions. If your manuscript is too long, I can suggest ways to compress it while preserving the content that’s important to you. If the manuscript is too short, I can identify places where it could be fleshed out.

I will not use ChatGPT or any other AI tool to analyze or edit your work. Instead, you’ll get the benefit of my human insight and experience.

Developmental editing can be fairly light or quite intensive. We’ll work together flexibly according to your needs and your budget. The end result is a book you’ll be proud to publish.

“Jess’s thoughtful and intelligent feedback brought clarity to what I hoped to say, amplified my messages and helped me uncover and feel good about my writing voice. Her advice about how to organize the manuscript saved me from giving up!”
— Suzannah Neufeld, author of Awake at 3 AM