Self-Publishing a Catholic Book? Here’s What to Know about Editing
A comprehensive guide to editing your Catholic manuscript
If you've been writing and rewriting your manuscript, getting feedback from others, and feel like your manuscript is as polished as you can get it– at least on your own, this could be a great time to consider hiring a professional editor.
Editing is what I consider “the good” in a good, true, and beautiful book. If a book’s purpose is to convey ideas well, the writing must be clear and well-organized. This can be done through professional editing, where text is clarified, re-written, and proofread.
Editors will be able to look at your manuscript with a fresh set of eyes, and they truly want to help you succeed! Editing is more than just proofreading for spelling errors. Editors can look at your manuscript as a whole and tell you if your thoughts are organized clearly, if the storyline needs improvements, if there are sections that should be added or removed, etc. Oftentimes, it's not until we even get this feedback that we realize, “wow, I hadn’t even thought about that!”
What Kinds of Editing Do You Need?
The Alliance of Independent Authors (ALLi) recommends:
"that every book receives at least two rounds of professional editing: a developmental/copyedit followed by a copyedit/proofread, and ideally these shouldn’t be done by the same person.
The ideal is three rounds: developmental, copyedit, proofread."
Obviously, cost and budget come into play. While it can be great to have separate editors and sets of eyes on your manuscript, many editors will offer package deals for developmental edits and copyedits, for example. This could be a great route to pursue to get both forms of editing for a reduced price.
Developmental editing is the most in-depth stage. It focuses on the big-picture elements of your book—things like structure, pacing, character development, plot holes, and overall clarity. A developmental editor will help you strengthen your story or argument, offering feedback on how to better organize your ideas and keep readers engaged. This kind of edit is ideal when you're working with an early draft and still shaping the core of your manuscript.
Once your content is solid, copy editing comes next. This is a line-by-line edit that sharpens your writing by correcting grammar, improving sentence flow, and ensuring consistency in tone, spelling, and word usage. A good copy editor will help your voice come through clearly while tightening the language and fixing any technical issues.
Finally, proofreading is the last stage before publication. This is your final polish—a detail-oriented sweep to catch typos, punctuation errors, formatting issues, and minor inconsistencies. Proofreading ensures that your writing is clean, professional, and ready for readers.
Keep in mind that proofreading is typically done after your manuscript has been formatted / typeset. Proofreading is the final step before your files go to the printer. The proofreader looks at things like the formatting of the text, image placement, headers and subheaders, page numbers, any typos that were missed earlier, etc.
What about Self-Editing?
Self-editing is an excellent practice, but it doesn’t replace the role of a professional editor. Even editors need editors! That said, self-editing can help ensure that significant grammar, style, structural, and voice issues are improved. Good editors might see glaring grammar mistakes and typos as a reason not to take on your project because it might suggest that you aren’t serious about your work. A self-edit also helps you learn and develop good writing habits to improve your writing and future revisions.
⭐Keep reading to the very end. Paid subscribers get 15 self-editing tips from editor Jody Benson.
Tips for Hiring an Editor
Consider the following when looking for an editor:
Which books have they previously edited?
What training do they have?
What types of editing do they provide? Make sure their services align with your needs.
Do they specialize in a specific genre? Some editors will focus on specific genres, like children’s books or nonfiction. This can be especially important when looking for developmental edits.
Does your editor have knowledge or experience with the topic in which you are writing? While not always a requirement, this can be incredibly helpful. For example, if you are writing a cookbook and your editor also loves to cook or has written and edited cookbooks before, this may position them to provide more helpful feedback than an editor who doesn’t have as much knowledge or experience with your topic.
What are their timelines? How far out is the editor scheduling clients, and how much time do they need to review your manuscript?
What are their prices, and does this align with your budget? Editors often provide a quote based on the word count of your manuscript. Make sure you provide an accurate estimate or have some flexibility in your budget.
Where Can I find an Editor?
Three editors I love to recommend are:
To search for more editors, and see available discounts: Be sure to check out our Service Provider Directory, available to paid members.
👉TIP: Once you have found an editor, it is a good idea to have a contract in place to clearly outline terms, services, pricing, and timelines.
Additional Considerations
In addition to developmental edits, copy edits, and proofreading, you might also consider the following services:
Manuscript Assessment
A manuscript assessment (also referred to as an editorial assessment) is when your manuscript is read in full, and a detailed report is provided with feedback. An assessment identifies the strengths and weaknesses of your work while offering insights into improving your writing craft and polishing your writing style. This is a good option to consider prior to developmental editing and copy edits.
Fact Checking
Consider if your manuscript will need fact checking. If your book has citations, statistics, data points, or other forms of deep research, be sure to think about fact checking. Some copy editors will offer this service, so be sure to ask if you need it.
Permission, Licensing, Copyright Clearances
Some editors can also help you identify and seek permissions for copyrighted text and images. Think bible passages, saint quotes, etc. that aren’t in the public domain. One editor I know of that does this for Catholic books is: FastEditing® LLC.
Theological Review
If your book deals with Catholic Church teachings, faith, or morals, you might consider a theological reviewer (someone with an advanced degree in Theology). While you might find an editor who also has a degree in Theology, you may find you need to hire a different person to do the theological review, such as a priest, deacon, college professor, etc. who, while not trained in manuscript editing, could read your manuscript, and pay special attention to any areas requiring further theological discussion.
Note: This is different from pursuing the Catholic Church’s Imprimatur, something that would come after editing, once your manuscript is final. You can learn more about Imprimaturs for your Catholic book here.
Vocabulary Leveling
If you are primarily focusing on developing a book for schools and libraries within the K-12 market, especially books intended to help a child learn to read, you may want to consider paying for vocabulary leveling of your book. Vocabulary leveling is a means of analyzing and quantifying the reading level and complexity of your text. Schools may be especially interested in these results as it helps them make decisions about what books to include in classrooms. Parents and teachers value this information as it helps them make appropriate selections to match a child’s reading comprehension skills. Two common measurement systems you may hear are Lexile Measures and Guided Reading Levels.
Even if schools and libraries aren’t your primary market, you may still benefit from assessing the reading level of your book so you can market it to the correct audience or make changes to better fit your intended audience.
Examples include:
It is important to note that there has been some debate as to whether leveling assessments really do an adequate job at appropriately leveling books. I would advise contacting a few schools and libraries in your area to see what, if anything, they use to determine the vocabulary level of their books, and how important this is to including books in their system. Knowing their preference may be helpful, especially if you are hoping to get your books into local schools and libraries.
Indexing
An index is commonly used in nonfiction books. It is a list of words and phrases in alphabetical order, located at the back of the book that help your reader quickly identify the page in which they can find a particular topic, concept, place, etc. It uses an organized structure, often with cross references to make it very easy on the reader to quickly find the information they need. If this is a service you need, there are professional indexers you can hire to help you with this.
That covers it! You are one step closer to publishing a good, true, and beautiful book!
👇Paid subscribers can keep on reading for 15 self-editing tips to help you prepare your manuscript and develop good writing habits. Enjoy!