Ground zero. The build, the tensions between your protagonist and antagonistic forces to propel story, movement, a poetic edge. Your vision for the book needing to be birthed.
Hemingway, Faulkner, and all the other big boppers needed a developmental editor. And a line editor. Chances are you do too.
Developmental editing, the heart of it all: Fueling your creative process while bolstering structure. It's flying at a higher altitude, giving insight and helping you get down to the bones of your deeper thoughts, concretize elements, and flesh out chapter and story development, character arcs and character status, plot concerns, logical stream, clarity issues, inconsistent tones, writing and movement concerns, timelines. It's the bigger-picture view, the panorama, to define form and connect the dots for transitional storytelling.
Line editing is developmental editing's soul mate, nestled under its umbrella. But line editing approaches the manuscript from a different lens. It's word-obsessed, poetic, image-building, targeting style, voice, tone, syntax, movement, fluidity, atmosphere, pacing, dialogue flow, rhythm of your words and paragraph structures, credibility issues, stereotypical usages, nebulous sentences. In other words, how you tell your story. It also touches on lighter structural corrections to flag problematic scenes and redundancies.
Each developmental editing stage moves you closer to becoming a better writer, exploring untapped creativity and releasing a book project with current market trends in mind.
For authors using my developmental editing and/or line editing service: the baseline mechanics of copyediting are offered as an extra service, outside the creative developmental editing and line editing. Copyediting is performed on a completed, developed manuscript: grammar, punctuation, spelling, spacing.
Breathe. AnnCastro Studio honors you within the creative process. You're the author. The final editorial decisions rest with you. After all, it's your book, your vision, your baby. As book editor, I'm the midwife, easing the journey for your best book delivery.
Self-publishing authors . . . You are applauded and encouraged here. I'm a champion of self-publishing efforts, especially because it widens the field for storytelling. More voices heard . . . more stories told. Once it's determined that your project is a good fit for the Studio's editorial services, I'll help you strengthen your manuscript (fiction or nonfiction) and even lend a hand with marketing content: author bios, PRs, social media/website content, one-sheets, etc.
Self-publishing hip-hip-hooray stories. I'm thrilled one of my author-clients who commissioned me for developmental editing and book editing (line editing and copyediting)reached a coveted sweet spot, self-publishing her first book, which struck double gold: IPPY gold medal award (Young Adult Fiction, e-book category) and Wishing Shelf Independent Book Awards gold medal (teenage division). And now our author-editorial partnership continues across different genres, from that YA dystopian series to an adult psychological thriller series.
Two other books (YA/adult and MG) reached award-winning status. Another wonderful author-client who I had the privilege of working closely with from initial manuscripts to the finished projects, performing developmental editing and then performing the word-and-style-obsessed line editing. Both books won first place with glowing reviews in the Utah Original Writing Competition (2021 & 2022), sponsored by the Utah Department of Heritage & Arts.
Kudos for another author-client's self-publishing work (rich historical fiction/fantasy, children's time travel) hit #2 on Amazon for new releases in her story's category.
Hello, traditional-publishing authors, and welcome. That arena is where I got my start years ago, ghostwriting and editing some titles in nutrition and health/wellness. I'm here to journey with you on your publishing process: book developmental editing, line editing, book proposal, query letter reviews.
Backstory: Two of the nonfiction/self-help book projects I've had the privilege of working on were released by major publishers and became New York Times best sellers:
(1) a collaboration with a known author/spokesperson in women's health and nutrition who commissioned me for work encompassing developmental editing, ghostwriting, and line editing; I also worked with her in that capacity on some other titles, as well as articles, columns, speeches, site content, marketing materials
(2) an age-management icon, physician, and new author in the men's health-wellness-fitness arena commissioned me for various levels of work: book concept development, then ghostwriting, developmental editing, and line editing the first three chapters used for his book as well as developing and writing his book proposal; I also worked on his marketing materials, media kit, and newsletter content for his practice: developemental editing, line editing, writing
Another book project in women's health and nutrition that commissioned my work embodied developmental editing, ghostwriting, and line editing-and became the major publisher's lead book for the year it was released.
- meaningful
- artful
- credible
- book packages: added value, customized for your, your book, your project
- developmental editing [structural development]: specific, intentional, encouraging, understandable
- line editing:
under developmental editing umbrella, word-focused, style, voice, movement, syntax
- copyediting (on manuscripts with my developmental editing and/or line editing): the baseline mechanics [punctuation, grammar, spelling, spacing, consistent word usages, possible sensitivity/bias alerts]
- ghostwriting with an editorial eye: clarity, form, transition, consistency
- publishing readiness: book proposals, query letters, author bios/PRs, back cover blurbs, one-sheets, content marketing for social media/sites, eblasts
