Sometimes it can be hard to see the flaws in our own work, especially when we’ve been staring at it for too long.

A manuscript assessment can help you see things you may be missing. In addition, the right editor will be able to see the potential and thus be able to determine what kind of editing is needed.

Typos and spelling are the bane of every writer’s life. Even the best writers can’t avoid them, hard as they may try. The fact is, typos are hardest to see for the one who wrote them.

A skilled editor thrives on spotting spelling and grammar errors. It’s like a gardener who can’t resist weeding a friend’s garden. When you’d rather bury your head in the dirt than read your manuscript one more time, trust an editor to polish it for you.

Even the best stories can be choked by poor word choice or clunky sentence structure. And sometimes that tricky plot problem or inconsistency can turn out to be nothing more than a troublesome word or sentence.

Proper copy editing can weed out those tricky words and phrasing that may be holding your story back from being its best. And a good editor can help you identify the phrasing and word choice you excel at and protect those pieces of your work.

A complete draft does not always mean a functional draft, and being able to diagnose dysfunctional scenes and characters can be one of the most difficult aspects of writing. Connecting point A to point B is rarely simple and doing so effectively is even harder.

The structural stage of writing can often involve a lot of trial and error, but a skilled editor can help you find the most effective way of laying out your story much more efficiently.

Development, the birthplace of every story. Just as character inconsistencies can’t be fixed with prettier words, and clunky sentences can’t be overcome with longer scenes, problems at the developmental level almost always require major reconstruction.

A good editor can either help you build the roots of a shaky story, or provide solid support for a strong story well on its way to blossoming.