Line editing, as distinct from copy editing, looks at the manuscript at the sentence level. If the structural edit and manuscript report are the strategic overview of your work, the line edit is purely tactical. It is the process that corrects errors like a character putting down an item she already put down two pages ago, or the same character being referred to as a doctor on one page and a vet on another. This is where, for example, an editor might advise a writer to shorten the sentences in a passage to increase tension or address the structure of a passage in a humorous book, where the rhythm and position of words are so important to the set-up and eventual pay-off of a joke.

Although the line edit shares some elements with the structural edit – catching continuity errors, maintaining consistency of style and pace, correcting clumsy dialogue, for example – this is a fine-detail edit where the structural edit is very much a broader picture view. At the risk of butchering a metaphor, structural editing addresses the forest, where line editing addresses the trees.

A covering letter noting any global issues relating to the writing style or syntax and your manuscript marked up in Microsoft Word Track Changes to highlight suggested changes to the prose on a line-by-line basis.

Please note that I do not include a post-editorial read-through and/or second round of notes in my estimate. If you would like me to read and feed back on your subsequent draft, please note this in the ‘Other Comments’ field in my Contact form.