Developmental editing: use our editors to perfect your book
Developmental Editing
Get detailed, structural feedback from a professional book editor
Our developmental editing service provides the same level of rigour you would expect from a Big 5 publishing house. Your developmental editor will provide line-by-line comments throughout your manuscript, alongside a report containing in-depth, actionable feedback. You’ll also have the chance to discuss your work and get advice on your next steps in an hour-long phone call with them. Undertaking a developmental edit will get your work into the best possible shape to submit to agents or to self-publish.
Jericho Writers was founded by writers, for writers. Four of us are published by the Big 5, while others are deep in the writing process. We carefully select the editors we work with — we choose the kind of people we’d want to guide us in our own writing. It’s this approach that has helped authors move forward with confidence, launch their careers, sign with literary agents and become Sunday Times bestsellers.
What can you expect from a developmental edit?
Developmental editing addresses both the broad and detailed aspects of your manuscript, offering a level of support comparable to what you’d receive from a Big 5 publisher. Your professional editor will provide a detailed editorial report (approximately 3,500 words) that covers major structural elements such as theme, characterisation, pacing, and your overall narrative arc.
In addition to this big-picture feedback, the service also includes attention to finer details such as sentence structure, unclear dialogue, and grammar. You’ll receive page-by-page feedback, as well as in-text annotations directly on your manuscript.
If your manuscript is still in an early draft or if you’re confident handling the finer points on your own, a manuscript assessment may be a better fit. It focuses on structural feedback without the in-depth line-level notes.
Your developmental edit will include
Download a sample report to see what your editorial report will look like.
Detailed editorial report
Plus, receive actionable feedback directly on your manuscript
Need more support?
Work with one of our professional book editors
We’ve worked hard over 20 years to hand-pick our team of expert editors. Once you buy a developmental edit, you can request your dream editor or let our Writer Support Team match you with the editor that best fits your work. Our book editors specialise in trade fiction and non-fiction texts. They include traditionally published authors as well as publishing professionals such as literary agents and Big 5 publishers.
Rebecca Roy
Former commissioning editor at Little Brown
- Bio
- Books
- Genres
Rebecca has over ten years’ experience in the publishing industry, commissioning commercial fiction for the UK’s leading publishing houses, including Little Brown, Simon & Schuster and Bonnier Books.
Rebecca’s editorial experience is vast, and she has edited fiction across all commercial genres, but her particular editorial specialties are romance, historical, crime and thriller.
You can find some of Rebecca’s clients on the ‘books’ tab.
- Literary
- Contemporary
- Crime / Thriller / Action
- Women’s
- Historical
- Romance
Jon Curzon
Literary agent with Artellus Ltd
- Bio
- Books
- Genres
Jon Curzon is a literary agent at Artellus Ltd., where he represents writers across fiction and non-fiction. Clients he has represented have been published in the UK, US, Germany, France, India, the Netherlands, South Korea, and Greece.
In addition to his agenting work, Jon has also worked as a freelance editor for literary consultancies and creative writing courses since 2015. His perspective as an agent allows him to precisely identify what’s working in your manuscript and what needs tweaking in order to take your work to the next level.
- Literary
- Contemporary
- Comic/satire
- Short stories
- Memoir
- Narrative non-fiction
Deirdre Power
Literary agent with David Higham Associates
- Bio
- Genres
Deirdre began her publishing career in a literary agency, working with children’s authors and estates. Since then, she has gone on to work in children’s editorial at major publishing houses, working across everything from picture books to YA.
Deirdre brings a keen editorial eye and in-depth knowledge of the market, and spends more time reading children’s fiction than anything else. Having worked in both literary agencies and publishers, she has a strong understanding of how the process works from both sides, and what both agents and editors are hungry to read.
- Picture books
- Children’s fiction
- Young adult fiction
Philip Womack
Critically acclaimed author
- Bio
- Books
- Genres
Philip is an author and Creative Writing lecturer.
After graduating with a degree in Classics and English, he worked at Literary Review for four years, before becoming freelance in 2008 on publication of his first novel, The Other Book. Six novels for children followed, including The Liberators, The Double Axe and The Arrow of Apollo, and his first non-fiction work for adults, How to Teach Classics to Your Dog, was published in October 2020.
- Children’s fiction
- Young adult fiction
- Literary
- Crime / Thriller / Action
- Science fiction
- Fantasy
- Memoir
- Narrative non-fiction
Mia Colleran
Former editor at 4th Estate, HarperCollins
- Bio
- Books
- Genres
Mia is a freelance editor specialising in fiction and memoir with experience at HarperCollins Publishers and a New York literary agency.
She was an editor at 4th Estate for three years in London where she honed her editorial abilities over countless manuscripts (both non-fiction and fiction). Books Mia has worked on include A Cook’s Book by Nigel Slater, Easy Wins by Anna Jones, Good Girls by Hadley Freeman, and The Secret of Cooking by Bee Wilson.
You can find some of the books Mia has worked on under the ‘books’ tab.
- Contemporary
- Literary
- Women’s fiction
- Short stories
- Memoir
- Narrative non-fiction
Lesley McDowell
Critically acclaimed author
- Bio
- Books
- Genres
Lesley McDowell is the author of fiction, non-fiction, and short stories, and was formerly a literary critic for major newspaper.
Lesley has three published novels, The Picnic (Black & White Publishing), Unfashioned Creatures (Saraband) and Clairmont (Wildfire 2024), as well as a work of non-fiction, Between the Sheets: The Literary Liaisons of Nine 20th Century Women Writers (Overlook Duckworth 2010). Her new book, ‘Love and Other Poisons’ (Wildfire) is due out July 2025. She is the recipient of three Creative Scotland awards, a Society of Authors grant, and was Writer in Residence at Gladstone’s Library in 2014.
- Historical
- Contemporary
- Women’s fiction
- Literary
- Crime / Thriller / Action
- Paranormal
- Narrative non-fiction
- Memoir
Why choose Jericho Writers?
Many companies promise to get your book published, but we only offer services we believe will genuinely benefit you. Unsure if this is the right fit? Book a call with us – we’ll be honest with you. This commitment to integrity has helped Jericho Writers thrive for over 20 years.
Don’t take just our word for it…
We’ve been helping writers achieve their goals for over 20 years. Here’s what some of them had to say about our editorial services:
Could you be our next success story?
Over the last 20 years, many of our clients have gone on to win prizes, become bestsellers, get film and TV deals, achieve huge global sales, and more. To name a few, John David Mann went onto become a New York Times Bestselling author; Paul Braddon’s The Actuality has been optioned for a TV series; Eleanor Anstruther won the Desmond Elliott prize; and Nussaibah Younis has been shortlisted for The Women’s Prize awards. Now it’s your turn.
Get feedback and detailed line-by-line comments to improve your writing
Get an instant quote based on your wordcount below.
Developmental Edit
Find the right editing service for your book
Developmental editing is our most premium editing service (equivalent to an editorial report from a Big-5 Publisher), and is best for authors with a polished draft. If you’re looking for a structural edit for early drafts, then check out our manuscript editing service which is suitable for all manuscripts, including adult fiction, children’s books, and non-fiction.
Developmental editing
Manuscript assessment
Need more info before you decide?
Choosing the right service for your work is hard. But we’re on hand to help! Book a call with our Writer Support team at a time to suit you to talk through the options.
Frequently asked
questions
How should I format my manuscript?
Please only upload Word documents via the online submission form. Don’t forget to number your pages and double space your lines, and use an easy-to-read font like Times New Roman 12. Editors would prefer if you could also indent your paragraphs and use page breaks throughout the manuscript.
How long will it take to match my manuscript with an editor?
We aim to match you with the right editor within 2-4 days. We’ll get back to you as soon as the choice has been confirmed.
How do you choose the editor?
We match manuscripts based on over 20 years of experience working with our editors. We consider editor experience, their genres of interest, and whether they themselves feel they are the right fit for your work. As all our editors are freelance, this depends on availability.
Can I choose my editor?
If you have a particular editor in mind, we will of course do our best to match you with them. We cannot guarantee this, however, as all of our editors are freelance and there are times when they are unavailable due to demand and/or other commitments.
Once you have placed your order, you’re welcome to send a shortlist of 4-5 editors from our website (and we’ll do our best to place you with your preferred editors).
What if my book is good enough? Will you help me find an agent?
On some occasions, an editor will flag a manuscript as submission ready. When this happens, a member of the Jericho Writers team will look at the author’s agent submission pack and provide some free advice on it, plus access to AgentMatch. On some occasions, where the manuscript shows real promise, we’ll also approach agents on the author’s behalf.
It’s worth noting however, that this service is reserved for manuscripts which editors believe have strong commercial potential and are of a very high quality. Please don’t be disappointed if yours isn’t selected – most manuscripts require quite a few rewrites before reaching submission standard!
Which editorial service is right for me?
We offer quite a few editorial services, so you’re right to take the time to consider all of your options. The writing process is a long one, so whether it’s line editing or copy-editing, or something on a larger scale, like a manuscript evaluation or developmental edit, we have the service for you. You can take a look at all of our editorial services here. You might also like to read our article explaining all the different types of editorial services. If you’re still not sure, feel free to get in touch with us and we’ll be happy to offer more advice.
How and when do I submit my manuscript?
After purchase, we’ll invite you to upload your full manuscript via our online submission form. Once we’ve received your submission, we’ll get back to you as soon as we’ve matched your work up with the right developmental editor.
How do I know if a developmental edit is the right choice for my manuscript?
We recommend our developmental editing service if:
- Your manuscript is in pretty good shape (ie: this should be the last major round of work before submitting to publishers or self-publishing the manuscript).
- You want both broad and narrow comments.
- You want the opportunity to talk at length with one of our developmental editors.
- You are OK paying for a premium service.
We recommend a manuscript assessment if:
- Your manuscript is still at a somewhat earlier stage in its journey.
- You feel able to handle the narrower issues yourself, so long as you have reasonable guidance from your manuscript assessment report.
What does a developmental editor work on?
The developmental editing process looks at both the broad and the small aspects of a manuscript. Your professional developmental editor will write a long written report containing structural commentary that looks at the big picture elements of your story, such as themes, characterisation, and your narrative arc. Developmental editing involves the more minute details too (like sentence structure, unclear dialogue, and grammar), and our freelance developmental editors provide page-by-page feedback along with annotations on the manuscript itself.
What is the difference between substantive and developmental editing?
Developmental editing is also called substantive editing, and the two services are now generally considered to be one and the same. Though this hasn’t always been the case. While developmental editors focus on both large and small scale edits, substantive editors have traditionally dealt with improvements made at the scene, paragraph, and sentence levels. However, the terms are now largely used interchangeably, with both offering enhancements that can be made on a small and a large scale.
How long will my editorial report be?
Editorial reports are usually around 3500 words long*. However these can range from 2500 to 4000 words depending on the length of the manuscript.
Not the right service for you?
Whether you’re looking for detailed structural edits, line-editing, or you’re just getting started and need some feedback on your opening chapters, we have you covered.
