What Is Line Editing and How Is It Different From Copy Editing?

Line editing is a sentence-level editing pass that focuses on improving prose style, clarity, word choice, and narrative flow, while copy editing is a mechanical pass that corrects grammar, spelling, punctuation, and consistency errors. When comparing line editing vs copy editing, the key distinction is that line editing is subjective and stylistic — reshaping how your writing reads — whereas copy editing is objective and technical, ensuring your manuscript follows the rules of language and a chosen style guide.

Where Do Line Editing and Copy Editing Fit in the Editing Process?

Professional manuscript editing follows a hierarchy of four distinct stages, each addressing a different layer of the text. From most to least intensive, the order is: developmental editing, line editing, copy editing, and proofreading. Skipping stages or doing them out of order creates problems — a copy editor cannot fix prose that needs structural rewriting, and a line editor should not be catching typos that a later copy edit will handle.

Developmental editing (sometimes called substantive editing) addresses the big-picture elements: plot structure, character arcs, pacing, argument flow, and chapter organization. It often involves rewriting or reorganizing entire sections. This stage comes first because there is no point polishing sentences that may be cut or rewritten during structural revisions.

Line editing comes next. Once the structure is solid, a line editor works through the manuscript sentence by sentence, refining how the writing communicates its ideas. This is where awkward phrasing gets rewritten, repetitive passages get tightened, and the author’s voice gets sharpened. If you have read our overview of developmental editing vs. copy editing vs. proofreading, line editing fills the gap between the structural pass and the mechanical cleanup.

Copy editing follows line editing and handles correctness: grammar, punctuation, spelling, and consistency. Proofreading is the final stage, catching any remaining errors in the formatted, ready-to-publish file.

What Does a Line Editor Actually Do to Your Prose?

A line editor reads every sentence with what Reedsy’s editorial team describes as a “laser-sharp focus on the stylistic and structural aspects of the writing,” aiming to bring clarity, precision, and impact to the manuscript. This is sentence-level editing at its most intensive — not fixing what is wrong, but making what is adequate into something compelling.

Concrete tasks in a line edit include rewriting awkward or convoluted sentences, breaking up run-on constructions, recasting weak sentence openers (such as “There are” and “It is” constructions), and pointing out unintentional repetition. A line editor will flag when the same word appears three times in a paragraph, when a metaphor has gone stale, or when a passage buries its point under unnecessary qualifiers.

Line editing also addresses paragraph structure and transitions. A line editor ensures that each paragraph earns its place, that ideas flow logically from one to the next, and that the reader never has to re-read a sentence to understand its meaning. The goal, as Random House copy chief Benjamin Dreyer put it, is to make the writing “the best possible version of itself.”

How Does Line Editing Strengthen Voice and Word Choice?

Voice and word choice are the heart of line editing. Where copy editing enforces rules, line editing makes judgment calls about style — and that distinction is why Jericho Writers describes line editing as “polishing for beauty rather than polishing for performance.”

A line editor will replace generic words with more precise alternatives. Instead of “She walked across the room,” a line editor might suggest “She crossed the room” or “She paced to the window,” depending on the scene’s emotional register. They will flag overused filler words — very, really, just, quite, actually — that dilute the prose without adding meaning.

Crucially, a good line editor preserves and strengthens the author’s voice rather than imposing their own. The goal is not to make every manuscript sound the same, but to help each author sound more like the best version of themselves. This is why line editing is inherently subjective: two competent line editors might suggest different revisions to the same paragraph, and both could be right. What matters is that the editorial feedback serves the author’s intent and the book’s audience.

For self-published authors who have already explored what a copy editor does to a manuscript, line editing is the earlier, deeper pass that shapes the raw material a copy editor will later clean up.

What Does Copy Editing Cover?

Copy editing is the technical, rule-based pass that ensures correctness and consistency throughout the manuscript. According to the Chicago Manual of Style, manuscript editing requires “attention to every word and mark of punctuation in a manuscript, a thorough knowledge of the style to be followed, and the ability to make quick, logical, and defensible decisions.”

A copy editor corrects spelling errors, fixes grammatical mistakes, ensures punctuation follows a consistent style guide (typically the Chicago Manual of Style for book publishing in North America), and catches homophones like affect vs. effect or its vs. it’s. They verify that character names are spelled the same way throughout the book, that dates and place names are consistent, and that the formatting follows publishing conventions.

Copy editors also perform modest fact-checking — confirming that a real street name exists in the city where a novel is set, or that a historical date referenced in nonfiction is correct. They enforce consistency in matters of editorial style: whether you use the serial comma, whether numbers are spelled out or rendered as digits, whether foreign words are italicized.

This is where a style sheet in editing becomes essential. A copy editor builds or follows a style sheet that documents every consistency decision made for the manuscript, ensuring that the same rules apply from page one to the final chapter.

When Does Your Manuscript Need Line Editing vs. Copy Editing?

Most manuscripts need both, done in sequence. The question is not which one to choose but whether your manuscript is ready for a copy edit or still needs a line edit first. Sandra Wendel, writing for Jane Friedman’s publishing blog, notes that copy editing is the lowest level of edit and that rarely does a manuscript need “just” a copy edit — most authors actually need a full line edit.

Your manuscript likely needs a line edit if beta readers report that the writing feels flat, repetitive, or hard to follow, even though the story or argument itself is solid. If you find yourself getting feedback like “I lost interest in chapter four” or “the pacing drags in the middle,” those are line-level problems — not issues a copy editor will address.

A copy edit alone may be sufficient if your prose has already been through multiple revision rounds and beta readers respond positively to your writing style and clarity. If the feedback you are getting is mostly about typos, inconsistencies, or grammatical errors rather than readability, you may be ready to skip straight to copy editing.

For indie authors budgeting their editing stages, it is worth knowing that line editing is more intensive and therefore typically costs more than copy editing. A line editor spends more time per page because the work involves creative judgment, not just rule application. However, investing in a line edit when your manuscript needs one will improve the final product far more than a copy edit applied to prose that is not yet ready for it.

Frequently Asked Questions

Can one editor do both line editing and copy editing at the same time?

Some editors offer a combined line and copy edit, but the two passes serve different purposes and require different modes of reading. A line editor reads for flow and style; a copy editor reads for errors and consistency. Combining them risks doing neither well, because the editor’s attention is split between subjective judgment calls and mechanical corrections. Most professional editors recommend doing them as separate passes.

Does line editing come before or after beta readers?

A professional line edit typically comes after beta readers and after any developmental editing. Beta readers help identify big-picture issues with story, pacing, or clarity. Once you have addressed that feedback and revised your manuscript structurally, a line editor can polish the prose knowing that the content itself is stable. Paying for a line edit before the structure is final risks paying to polish sentences that will later be cut.

How much does line editing cost compared to copy editing?

Line editing generally costs more per word than copy editing because it requires more time and subjective judgment. Industry rates vary, but line editing typically ranges from two to five cents per word, while copy editing runs from one to three cents per word. A 70,000-word novel might cost between $1,400 and $3,500 for a line edit versus $700 to $2,100 for a copy edit, depending on the editor’s experience and the manuscript’s condition.

Is line editing the same as substantive editing?

The terms overlap but are not identical. Substantive editing — also called content editing — can refer to both developmental-level restructuring and sentence-level style improvements. Some editors use “substantive editing” to mean a deep line edit that occasionally addresses structural issues within paragraphs and sections. If you are hiring an editor who advertises substantive editing, ask for a sample edit or a detailed scope of work to confirm exactly what the service includes.

Should self-published authors learn to line edit their own work?

Developing line editing skills improves your writing at every level, and self-editing between drafts is valuable practice. However, no author can fully line edit their own work because familiarity with the text makes it nearly impossible to read your own prose with fresh eyes. You will mentally fill in gaps, skip over repetition, and read sentences as you intended them rather than as they appear on the page. A professional line editor provides the outside perspective that self-editing cannot replicate.