Developmental Editing

Developmental (or content) editors read through a manuscript to provide the author with input about plot development, character development, story arc, plot holes, and broad input on areas of focus before the manuscript goes to a line editor.

What to expect from GCP:

When you book us for developmental editing, you will receive two forms of feedback. One will be a write up letting you know what the editor felt worked and what elements they felt need more consideration and work, such as plot, arc, character development, world building (if applicable). They will also provide guidance on potential craft issues seen throughout the manuscript, such as a repeated word, incorrect grammar or punctuation usage happening consistently, head-hopping/POV maintenance, research issues, etc. Along with the write up, there will be comments, highlighted areas, and tracked changes as referenced examples of the write up notes.

GCP does not offer sensitivity reader services.

Genres we currently accept for developmental edits:

  • Sweet/Clean romance

  • Sensual to spicy romance

  • Women's fiction

  • Mainstream fiction

  • Young Adult fiction

  • New Adult fiction

  • Contemporary fiction

  • Science fiction

  • Fantasy

  • Suspense

  • Historical fiction

  • Paranormal fiction

  • Supernatural fiction

  • Non-Fiction

  • Dark fiction

Genres we do not accept for developmental edits:

* Note: the reasons we don’t accept these genres is because our experience with them is limited and that removes us from contention as the best editors for your work. We strongly advocate for authors to find the strongest editor for their genres, even when that isn’t us!

  • Erotica & Erotic Romance (Spicy romance is not included in this, only strictly erotic content)

  • Poetry

  • Scripts of any type

  • Anything AI-generated

Cost:

$4 per 1,000 words, rounded up to the next 1,000-word count. There is a minimum fee of $25 for short pieces — for instance, if your word count is less than 6,000 words the normal per word cost would be $24 — you would be charged the $25 minimum. Anything above 6,000 words falls under the per 1,000 word rate.

Example: A 32,350-word manuscript will round to $132; a 122,578 word manuscript will be $492.

Standard turnaround time is within three weeks of receipt of the manuscript*. Rush work*** is available for an added $75 if you need to have it completed within 7 business days. We will make every effort to complete the work in a timely matter, but should an emergency arise that will delay delivery, we will be sure to let you know as soon as possible.

GCP reserves the right to turn down projects at our discretion.

Payment:

  • 50% of quoted price must be received within 1 week of the start date. This will serve as a non-refundable deposit. If you need to delay your project, please let us know as as soon as possible and we’ll be happy to carry that deposit for the same project to a different date. If you decide to cancel, you can choose to have us hold that deposit for another project at a later date, but the deposit will remain non-refundable.

  • The other 50% is due upon delivery and is non-refundable.

  • An invoice will be sent about a week prior to the start date. That invoice will provide information to allow you to pay either by PayPal, Venmo, or CashApp. This assures you can take care of the invoice in a way you prefer.

 *Must be delivered in .doc or .docx format