Who hires academic developmental editors—and when?

Academic developmental editors provide big-picture feedback on a manuscript to ensure it’s presented in an optimal way for readers. They bridge the gap between what the writer thinks the book is doing, and how that appears to readers.

Academic writers are usually very close to their material and may not notice relationships between arguments, that one argument or idea is out of place, etc.

Academic developmental editors are therefore usually editors who know the conventions of academic writing and of certain disciplines well, and they have been trained in how to spot developmental issues (many through learning on the job, but there are also courses, such as the University of Chicago Developmental Editing Pathway).

Who hires academic developmental editors?

University presses and academic publishers

University presses and academic trade presses sometimes hire academic developmental editors if they have a problem manuscript they need help with (the same applies for line editors). It’s worth pointing out that the skill set of a managing editor and an acquisitions editor will overlap with that of a developmental editor. Managing editors frequently give academic authors feedback on samples, chapters, etc., with developmental concerns in mind.

Also, part of the acquisitions editor’s job is to assess market suitability, so they are highly skilled at diagnosing problems with book proposals in particular, which translates in being able to give high-quality feedback on such proposals.

In summary, university presses have substantial developmental editing expertise in-house, through acquisitions editors, managing editors, and the peer review process. As a result, freelance academic developmental editors are usually brought in when presses lack capacity or when the stakes are high to the press.

Academic researchers

Academic researchers increasingly hire developmental editors for academic books when revising a dissertation or preparing a manuscript for a university press. And scholars often seek developmental editing for journal articles when a piece has been rejected multiple times and the underlying issue is structural rather than sentence-level.

This has become a more popular trend in recent years, as publishing a book has become increasingly important for academic career progression. Twenty years ago in the UK, for example, a book was by no means essential to secure a first permanent lecturer position, while it has become near essential for social and cultural anthropology, roughly from the early 2010s onwards – linked to the global economic crisis and the increasing precarity for many in academic careers.

Why academics hire developmental editors

Developmental editors also offer researchers support they often cannot find inside academia.

Peer review involves detailed expert feedback. Good peer review often includes some developmental editing feedback, which academics learn as they go. But it also includes gatekeeping and sometimes a reluctance to engage with an argument or piece of work in a constructive way (e.g., if the reviewer has a big ego and advocates a competing academic approach).

As an independent academic developmental editor, I often work with scholars who want detailed structural feedback in a space that is separate from peer review, hiring, and university or disciplinary hierarchies.

When to hire a developmental editor

For book proposals

(1)   After you have revised the proposal as much as you can, but before sending to presses

(2)   After you have received rejections from several presses

For books

(1)   A small number of academics work with developmental editors at the generative stage, that is, while they are writing each chapter. But if we’re being strictly technical about terms, that would fall under book coaching, as a developmental edit involves feedback on a completed draft.

(2)   Many academics source developmental editing feedback alongside peer review. The peer review process can take many months, and it can work well if they then integrate the feedback from all the reviewers and the developmental editor (which offers extra triangulation)

(3)   Some academics source developmental editing feedback after the peer review process, but before submitting the final version. This is sometimes motivated by a feeling that something isn’t quite right or that the book isn’t quite ready.

For journal articles

Here, the process is very similar to that for books. It’s common to bring in a developmental editor for a particular “problem project” – I’ve worked with scholars who have put a problem project to one side for years and finally what to open it up again and see it to completion.

Is developmental editing a commercial role?

If you look at what the editorial process involves – from developmental editing through to copyediting and proofreading – you’ll notice that lots of standardization takes place. For copyediting, this happens at the level of spelling, punctuation, style. For developmental editing, this can involve suggested use of certain templates (e.g., start an ethnographic introduction with a vignette that makes the stakes of the study and its central theme clear to the reader).

Just as in fiction, where blockbuster novels and films often reuse the same story structure, and audiences come to expect it, this can be an outcome of developmental editing.

And for a writer struggling a lot with structure, there can be a place for templates. But templated advice links to commerce and the market, as something familiar and reproducible is easier to sell repeatedly.

A good developmental editor, then, will make suggestions that will increase the readership (and thus potential market) of a text (and a template may occasionally be suggested), but that is just one aspect.

Academic developmental editors also need to work within an author’s vision and to respect the traditions and writing styles the author is working with. This might mean sacrificing wider appeal in some places for conveying something important to the reader. I discuss this in my short manifesto, Editing Otherwise.

If you’re unsure whether your project needs structural revision, proposal development, or deeper argument work, developmental editing can help clarify the next stage. You can read more about how I work with academic authors here.