Literary Editing Services: Key Things Clients Should Know About Them

Let’s start with a truth we don’t always acknowledge: any text is likely to contain mistakes.

It is for this reason that virtually any text has to be edited before publication. In most cases, it's enough if the authors themselves review them before publication. However, important, challenging, or extensive texts always require an editor’s input. If the editing work goes beyond correcting errors and involves improving the language and style of the original, then it can be considered literary editing.

What does literary editing mean

A literary editor interacts with the author to help them enhance various aspects of the manuscript. Literary editing improves the quality of the language and renders the text stylistically and logically coherent.

When comparing literary editing with translation editing, a key difference between the two should be kept in mind. Translation editing has limitations, stemming from the requirement to convey the meaning of the original text accurately. This requirement places restrictions on both the translator’s/editor’s creative imagination and, ultimately, the scope of the editing work.

Literary editing isn't limited by such constraints, and different types of it can vary a lot in both content and scope.

For example, in some cases, editors completely rewrite the original text.

Editing can also be categorised as ‘structural’ or ‘substantive’. An editor may effectively modify the overall structure of a work: the logic of the argument, sequencing, genre consistency, and so on. Sometimes an editor may even decide how comprehensively the author has developed the theme, whether they have brought forward all the arguments or evidence, how deeply they have explored the essence of the phenomena in the text, and to what extent the text itself meets the objective of the author..

Very similar to this approach is the so-called ‘deep editing’, often encountered in publishing practice. Without modifying the structure of the work itself, the editor may rephrase entire sentences and even cut entire paragraphs from the book.

In any event, literary editing implies in-depth text revision: rephrasing awkward sentences, removing repetitive expressions, refining the presentation whilst preserving the essence, and fine-tuning the style. And, naturally, the work of a literary editor typically includes everything one would expect from a standard editing process: correcting any grammatical or technical errors, typos, harmonising units of measurement or abbreviations, checking sources, and so forth.

As the literary editing service is multifaceted and creative in nature, we strongly recommend that clients clearly define its scope and content beforehand.

In order to do this, ask yourself a few questions:

• What exactly do I expect the editor to do with my text?
• How profoundly would I like to see it altered?
• What specific results would I anticipate from the literary editing process?
• How will the text be used later on? There are distinct requirements for editing a work of fiction and for editing an academic paper.

Our company employs enough professionals  who have a taste for writing and literature, the required linguistic qualification, and extensive experience in editing, working with fiction texts and rewriting. It is for this reason that we offer literary editing as a standalone service, independent of translation.

How do I order a literary editing service?

Ordering a literary editing service is a bit different from ordering a translation.

If you contact KLS to request a literary editing, the first step should be to make a clear list, together with your project manager, of your expectations for the scope and results of the work. In fact, you will jointly draw up a task statement for the literary editor.

It is also important that we clearly understand the intended purpose of this text. For instance, an academic paper will need to be formatted in accordance with the requirements of your chosen international citation style. Please note that the journal’s editorial team or the publisher may also have their own specific requirements for the text. We will be able to accommodate these as well, provided that we are informed of them in advance.

So, whether you are the author of a non-fiction text, a guidebook, an academic article, a business book, or a work of fiction, you are welcome to contact us. We will perform the literary editing of your text to improve its style, perception and make it good for the publication.

Services of a literary editor

Below you can find a tentative list of what the standard option of the literary editing service may include.

• rephrasing and revising clunky phrases;
• replacing poor vocabulary choices;
• checking sentence grammar, including agreement in number, case and conjugation;
• removing redundancies;
• removing inconsistencies with your chosen style;
• harmonising terminology;
• correcting all grammatical, lexical and spelling errors, as well as typos;
• checking sources, literature, references, citations, and abbreviations;
• correct placement of punctuation marks, including quotation marks, dashes, etc.;
• checking lists, footnotes and the overall formatting of the text.

If you wish to have your text revised in greater depth — whether through rewriting, restructuring, or refining the literary expression of your ideas — you should discuss these matters in detail with our project managers. We will select experts specialising in in-depth literary editing to collaborate with you, and we will calculate the cost of your order and the time it will take to do the work on an individual basis. Then, as the author of the text, you will be required to engage closely with the editor throughout the course of the work.

KLS is more than just a translation agency. We are great at developing comprehensive solutions and providing complete packages of services. If your text requires literary editing, and you are willing to actively engage with us, we will make every effort to improve it as much as possible in a creative, comprehensive and professional way.

Please leave your request on the website and we will choose the optimal solution for you and provide a team that would best meet your request.