The Self-Publishing Timeline: Where Does Developmental Editing Fit In?
Newsflash: publishing success isn’t random. At least, not entirely so. Publishing follows a predictable, structured timeline. To succeed, you need to treat your novel not just as a creative work, but as a commercially viable product.
Achieving this requires a professional, multi-stage process that prioritises structural integrity for speculative fiction projects. For authors writing intricate worlds and plots, this process is even more complex.
This guide breaks down the professional self-publishing journey into distinct phases, including where developmental editing fits in.
This article covers:
Phase I: The Core Asset Creation (Self-Editing Your Manuscript)
Top Tips for Self-Editing Your Manuscript
Phase II: The Structural Foundation (Where Developmental Editing Fits In)
Top Tips for Preparing Your Manuscript for Developmental Editing
Phase III: The Polish and Presentation (Copy Editing, Line Editing and Formatting)
Stage 1: The Prose Polish (Copy Editing & Line Editing)
Stage 2: Formatting and Design
Phase IV: Final Proofreading and Launch Strategy
Proofreading: The Final Safety Net
Marketing Planning: Building the Buzz
The Strategic Advantage of a Structured Timeline
Phase I: The Core Asset Creation (Self-Editing Your Manuscript)
First things first, you need to focus on completing your book and making it clean enough to hand over to a professional. Of course, the writing is the foundation upon which your developmental editor will build.
Before you spend any money on a professional editor, it’s a smart idea to perform a serious self-edit. A developmental editor is hired to address structural logic and plot holes, not typos or avoidable inconsistencies.
Top Tips for Self-Editing Your Manuscript
Hone your word count: If your manuscript is overly long, cutting 10,000 unnecessary words now can save you hundreds of $$$ across all three stages of professional editing.
Avoid early line editing: Resist the temptation to refine every sentence. You are likely to cut or rewrite large sections of prose based on the developmental edit assessment, so don’t waste time perfecting prose that will be deleted.
The big-picture review: Focus on major issues, such as character motivation and pacing. You can read the manuscript aloud or use text-to-speech software to catch repeated phrases and awkward dialogue.
Phase II: The Structural Foundation (Where Developmental Editing Fits In)
Developmental editing is the single greatest investment you can make in your book’s commercial viability. View it as the architectural phase, addressing issues at the deepest level, such as plot integrity, character motivation, theme, and tension buildup. A structurally sound speculative fiction manuscript means your magic system adds up, and your plot doesn’t have holes.
Top Tips for Preparing Your Manuscript for Developmental Editing
Hiring a developmental editor is a process that requires careful planning:
Research & Booking (2-4 Weeks): Allocate time to finding a speculative fiction specialist and securing a free sample edit. This step verifies that the editor's expertise aligns with your genre's unique demands.
The Edit (6-12 Weeks): This is the editor's time to conduct the deep analysis, after which they’ll provide a comprehensive editorial assessment and in-manuscript comments.
Author Revisions (4-8 Weeks): Your time commitment for the rewrite. Make sure you’re ready to schedule this time, so it doesn’t come as a surprise.
Phase III: The Polish and Presentation (Copy Editing, Line Editing and Formatting)
Once you are confident the structure is locked down and no major rewrites are pending, you can move into the polish phase. Let’s split this part into two stages.
Stage 1: The Prose Polish (Copy Editing & Line Editing)
The goal here is to refine your language, ensuring top quality at the sentence level. You can expect to allocate 3-8 weeks for the editor’s work, followed by 2-4 weeks for your final review.
You can book an editor who can support with:
Copy editing is all about technical consistency, such as grammar, punctuation, syntax, capitalisation and minor continuity errors.
Line editing focuses on the artistic delivery, including flow, tone, word choice, rhythm and other elements.
Stage 2: Formatting and Design
This step takes the fully edited manuscript and prepares it for its final appearance.
Cover design: Super important! The cover should inform some design choices (like interior fonts).
Interior formatting: Preparing the manuscript for print (KDP, IngramSpark) and digital (eBook/Kindle).
Phase IV: Final Proofreading and Launch Strategy
You've reached the shortest phase, which is about eliminating any errors that may have crept in during the final stages of formatting.
Proofreading: The Final Safety Net
Proofreading is not a full edit. It is a final check for surface-level mistakes that may have been missed by the copy editor or introduced during the formatting process. It fixes things like double spaces and orphaned words.
Marketing Planning: Building the Buzz
While not strictly an editing step, marketing and launch planning are an essential part of your self-publishing timeline. Crucially, these activities start earlier than you think!
Begin building your email list, planning your BookTok/social media strategy and securing advance reviews (ARCs) while your book is in the copy editing phase. Why wait for launch month!
The Strategic Advantage of a Structured Timeline
By following this professional self-publishing timeline, you avoid the costly mistake of editing the wrong things at the wrong time. Treating your novel like a high-value asset is the definitive step in ensuring your book is its best, most structurally sound version.
The developmental editing process is designed to transform your manuscript into a commercially viable success that will appeal to a wider audience of readers.
At EV Editing, we move beyond surface-level fixes to provide the end-to-end developmental editing support for speculative fiction writers.
If you are ready for a high-value, meticulous editorial partnership, review our developmental editing services.
