Editing Definitions
The Four Levels of Editing
“Editing” is not one job. It is four, and the difference between them is the difference between a manuscript that gets rebuilt and one that gets a final dusting. Knowing which level your document needs saves you money, protects your voice, and gets your work to the standard you actually want. These pages set out exactly what each level covers, what it leaves alone, and when it is the right choice.
Ask Us Which Level You NeedThe four levels are cumulative. A heavy edit contains everything a medium edit does, a medium edit contains everything a light edit does, and every level ends with the precision pass that proofreading provides on its own. That is why the right starting point matters: pay for a heavy edit on a polished manuscript and you are buying work it does not need; ask for a proofread on a draft with structural problems and the problems survive, immaculately punctuated.
Choose Your Level
- Heavy Edit: Sentences reshaped and sections reordered where the argument or the story calls for it. Material is added, moved or cut as the document needs. For a draft where the shape and the order are not yet right.
- Medium Edit: Sustained work on sentences and paragraphs: order within sections, tone, transitions and consistency. Where a point needs making more fully, we say so. For a draft that needs work throughout rather than in places.
- Light Edit: Everything a proofread covers, and attention to the wording itself: what is vague is sharpened, and anything thin or unsupported is marked for you. For a draft that holds together, where the writing needs a closer look than a proofread gives it.
- Proofreading: A final read for error: typography, spelling, punctuation, grammar and consistency. The wording is left as you set it. For a draft you consider finished, where what remains is mistakes rather than writing.
Not Sure Which One You Need?
- If the argument or the story is not landing yet — the order feels wrong, sections repeat, the ending does not pay off — you need a heavy edit.
- If the structure is sound but the writing is hard work to read, a medium edit is the right level.
- If you are happy with the writing and want it tightened and made consistent, ask for a light edit.
- If the document is finished and about to be published or submitted, a proofread is the last thing it needs.
Send It To Us and We Will Tell You
You do not have to decide alone. Send us the document and we will read it, tell you which level it genuinely needs, and quote on that — including when the honest answer is the cheaper option.
Every quote we give names the level of editing it covers, so you always know what you are paying for and what will be done to your document. There are no surprise upgrades and no charging for structural work on a manuscript that does not need it.
“ Four levels of editing, from a full structural rebuild down to a final error-free polish. ”
EditFast has been matching documents to the right level of editing for over twenty-five years, across fiction, academic work, corporate manuals, and technical documentation. Your editor is chosen for their experience with your kind of writing, and works to the level you have agreed — no more, no less.
Send us your document, tell us your deadline, and we will confirm the level, the cost, and the turnaround before any work begins.
See the difference
The draft
The old house on Carrow Street had been standing empty for nearly thirty years, it’s windows boarded and the garden gone completely wild. Nobody in the village could remember who had actually owned it last, and the few people who claimed they did remember, gave answers that contradicted each other. Martha had walked past it every single day of her childhood and she had always felt that there was something about the place that seemed to be watching her back.
As the author sent it. Three mechanical errors, a good deal of padding, and a last sentence that explains a feeling instead of delivering it.
Proofread
The old house on Carrow Street had been standing empty for nearly thirty years, its windows boarded and the garden gone completely wild. Nobody in the village could remember who had actually owned it last, and the few people who claimed they did remember gave answers that contradicted each other. Martha had walked past it every single day of her childhood, and she had always felt that there was something about the place that seemed to be watching her back.
Mistakes out, nothing else touched. Three changes: it’s becomes its, a comma that split a subject from its verb is removed, and a missing comma is added before and she had always felt. The author’s sentences are untouched.
3¢ a word — $2,400 for an 80,000-word manuscript.
Light edit
The old house on Carrow Street had stood empty for nearly thirty years, its windows boarded and the garden gone wild. Nobody in the village could remember who had owned it last, and the few who claimed they did gave answers that contradicted each other. Martha had walked past it every day of her childhood, and she had always felt that there was something about the place that seemed to be watching her back.
The mistakes, plus the words that are not earning their place. Completely, actually and single go; had been standing becomes had stood. Same sentences, same rhythm, roughly twenty fewer words.
3.5¢ a word — $2,800 for an 80,000-word manuscript.
Medium edit
The old house on Carrow Street had stood empty for nearly thirty years, its windows boarded, its garden gone to seed. Nobody in the village could say who had owned it last, and those who claimed they could contradicted each other. Martha had walked past it every day of her childhood, and every day she had felt it watching her.
Sentences rebuilt where they are working too hard. Note the last one: she had always felt that there was something about the place that seemed to be watching her back becomes every day she had felt it watching her. The sentence stops describing the feeling and starts producing it. This is what most finished manuscripts need.
4¢ a word — $3,200 for an 80,000-word manuscript.
Heavy edit
For thirty years the house on Carrow Street had stood empty, windows boarded, garden gone to seed. Ask in the village who owned it last and you got four answers, none of them the same. Martha had walked past it every day of her childhood. Every day, it watched her back.
The order changes. The image moves to the front, the throat-clearing goes, and the villagers’ contradiction becomes something the reader does rather than is told about. For drafts where the material is right and the shape is not — and only for those.
5¢ a word — $4,000 for an 80,000-word manuscript.
Not sure which one your draft needs? Send it over — we will tell you, including when the honest answer is the cheaper one. Full rates and worked examples.
The Four Levels at a Glance
Heavy Edit — structural reconstruction. Logic, order, pacing, and argument, plus everything below.
Medium Edit — substantive refinement. Clarity, flow, and consistency within your existing structure.
Light Edit — careful polishing. Word choice, phrasing, mechanics, and formatting, with your content untouched.
Proofreading — the final safeguard. Grammar, spelling, punctuation, and typography, immediately before publication.
Want a figure? The cost calculator prices any of the four by word count, document type, and turnaround.
Editing is priced by the word: 3¢ to 5¢, averaging
4¢ a word. A typical 80,000-word manuscript is about
$3,200.
Work out your own estimate, or send us the document
for a firm quote. The quote is free and nothing is owed if you decide against it.