What Are Editors Canada’s Guidelines? A Guide to Professional Book Editing Types
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Editing is crucial for presenting a polished, professional book to your readers. But what constitutes “good editing”? We aim to clear the fog by explaining one of the most respected regulatory bodies for editing, Editors Canada, and how they identify different types of editing. We’ll also dig into the realities of working with a human editor, and how FriesenPress uses the Editors Canada guidelines to uphold high quality standards that protect your editing investment.
Professional editing reduces distractions that diminish your book's readability, such as convoluted content structure, incorrect grammar, and persistent typos. From developmental editing to proofreading, our vetted editing team will match you with the editorial services you need to create the best book possible.
What Is Editors Canada and Why Does It Matter for Authors?
Editors Canada is an association founded in Toronto during the 1970s for editors to share and expand their knowledge. By the 1990s, branches across Canada (including a French expansion) had cropped up, expanding their purpose by establishing good editing principles and educating up-and-coming editors.
Nowadays, Editors Canada is the gold-standard for editing across the country, with many university-level editing programs looking to Editors Canada definitions, guidelines, and structures for what a professional editor needs to know.
One of the key factors of this framework is the definition of editing services. Editors Canada and FriesenPress recognize that editing is not a single brush applied to all manuscripts; it is a robust toolkit that applies the right brush based on the manuscript’s needs and the author’s goals.
What Are the Professional Editing Standards for Books?
The Professional Editing Standards developed by Editors Canada outline an editor’s role in handling any text and are the basis of their exams for editing accreditation.
The editor must begin by identifying the needs of a client’s manuscript and clearly communicate the type of edit they will be performing. A good editor always adheres to the author’s goals and style choices, retains and clarifies the author’s unique voice, and works within expected budgets and timelines.
Beyond the editor’s conduct, the standards provide a detailed breakdown of what kinds of issues an editor should rectify based on the type of edit. This allows authors to have a clear understanding of the kinds of changes an editor might make, such as restructuring content and providing feedback, or just catching lingering typos.
What Are the 4 Main Types of Book Editing Services?
Editors Canada identifies four main categories of editing: structural, stylistic, copy, and proofreading. Other terms are often used in editing circles (including in FriesenPress’s editing services), so let’s define what each type of editing covers.
| Editing Type | FriesenPress Service Terms | Core Focus | Key Deliverables |
|---|---|---|---|
| Structural | Developmental Editing | Big-picture organization, pacing, plot holes, and content flow. | Chapter reordering, structural feedback, and fact checking. |
| Stylistic | Content Editing, Complex Content Editing | Line-by-line flow, tonal consistency, and audience suitability. | Style sheet creation, messaging clarification, and flagging gaps/errors. |
| Copy | Copy Editing, Complex Copy Editing | The "four Cs": clarity, correctness, conciseness, and consistency. | Style sheet creation, grammar fixes, and syntax correction. |
| Proofreading | Proofreading | Final quality check for lingering typos and layout formatting. | Error-reducing text check and mechanical fixes. |
It’s important to note that just because a certain type of edit focuses on specific issues, that doesn’t mean every manuscript contains all of those types of errors. Always, the editor must use their professional judgement to assess the needs of the text.
What Is Structural Editing?
Structural editing is the holistic evaluation of a manuscript's organization, pacing, content flow, and overall narrative architecture. As the highest level of editing, the editor’s focus is not only what’s on the page, but also what might be missing. Feedback is most often provided in comments, because the expectation is that the text needs to be restructured or further developed before line-level edits are possible.
Structural Editing may cover:
Reviewing the overall organization of material and potentially moving or reordering chapters, sections, poems, etc.
Noting places where content is missing or incorrect, such as unfinished thoughts, missing citations, or plot holes
Noting places where content is not being used effectively, and may need to be expanded, trimmed, moved, or removed
Assessing the flow of ideas, the naturalness of dialogue, the story’s pacing, the development of arguments or characters, the consistency of characters or worldbuilding
Fact checking spellings of names/places/brands, etc.
Flagging content that may be incorrect or require permissions to reproduce
Identifying places where a different format might aid in reader comprehension (such as the inclusion of maps, charts, graphs, bullet lists, or images)
Assessing the language used and its suitability for the intended audience (such as reading age, plain language, technical jargon, English as an additional language, etc.)
Establishing a hierarchy of information, including the consistent use of headings, subheadings, terminology.
What Is Stylistic Editing?
Stylistic editing is the process of refining a manuscript’s language, sentence structure, and tone at the line level to improve clarity, flow, and reader engagement. The editor works through the content thoroughly, employing both comments and track changes so the author can review the editor’s work.
To ensure suggestions are cohesive, the editor applies a specific regional spelling convention and style guide, such as the Chicago Manual of Style, American Psychiatric Association style, or Modern Language Association style. Word choice and formality are adjusted for the necessary reading (or grade) levels, plain language for accessibility, or unique jargon for a certain profession. Author goals govern which rules the editor employs.
Stylistic Editing may cover:
Establishing a style sheet to record stylistic choices and any variations from the stated style guide and dictionary
Establishing consistent stylings for capitalization, numbers, spelling variations, etc.
Noting places where content is missing or incorrect, such as unfinished thoughts, missing citations, or plot holes
Making notes for expansion or clarification, where content is incomplete or unclear
Trimming, moving, or removing content that does not serve the whole, such as in cases of repetition, sluggish pacing, or unclear phrasing
Querying faulty arguments or inconsistent characterization, worldbuilding, dialogue, etc.
Correcting inconsistent or incorrectly spelled names/places/brands, etc.
Flagging content that may be incorrect or require permissions to reproduce
Correcting formatting of captions, citations, or lists
Assessing the language used and its suitability for the intended audience (such as reading age, plain language, technical jargon, English as an additional language, etc.) and making improvement for clarity, correctness, conciseness, or consistency.
What Is Copy Editing?
Copy Editing is a line-level edit that applies the “four Cs”: clarity, correctness, conciseness, and consistency. The editor achieves these improvements by the consistent application of a style guide and grammatical rules. Optional rules are implemented based on what is the best option for the readers’ comprehension of the work.
Some examples of optional rules include whether the Oxford comma will be used or whether paragraphs will be spaced (as here) or indented (as in most books). Some rules have variations dependent on context: number treatments, capitalization, hyphenation, punctuation, and emphasis markers (scare quotes, italics, bold, etc.).
Copy Editing may cover:
Establishing a style sheet to record stylistic choices and any variations from the stated style guide and dictionary
Establishing consistent stylings for capitalization, numbers, spelling variations, etc.
Correcting and clarifying grammar and syntax
Ensuring point of view and tense are applied consistently
Implementing a specific spelling convention and correcting word choice, typos, and spelling
Removing redundant words, clichés, overused structures, and unprofessional inclusions (such as emojis or chat speak, when relevant)
Implementing consistent capitalization, styling, and punctuation for hierarchy, titles, quotations, etc.
Querying for clarity when word choice might alter the author’s intended meaning.
What Is Proofreading?
Proofreading is the final quality-assurance pass of a manuscript, designed to ensure the styles that were previously implemented in the style sheet were used consistently throughout. This type of review can happen before or after layout; when performed after, it may also include reviewing visual elements. Unlike other editing services, the proofreader’s job is not to establish new styles for the text, merely to catch remaining errors.
Proofreading may cover:
Catching lingering typos, misspelled words, inconsistent spelling conventions
Removing extra spaces, erroneous punctuation, missing punctuation
Correcting inconsistencies in formatting, typeface, font styling, font size, etc.
Checking images with captions to ensure they match
Cross-referencing page numbers to ensure they match (not including indexing)
Ensuring consistent application of stylistic choices for numbers, hyphenation, capitalization, list treatments, heading styles, etc.
May use proofreading markup for the printer to make final changes to galley proofs.
How Can You Tell if a Professional Book Editor Is Qualified?
Editors train in the rules of one (or more) style guide as well as the above best practices. They are then tested through examinations administered by Editors Canada or a recognized accreditation program, such as the Simon Fraser editing certification or Toronto Metropolitan University certification in publishing.
These exams test different areas of editing knowledge, manuscript assessment, technical skill, grammatical acuity, bedside manner, thoroughness, and general knowledge. This can help isolate further training, but some editors use it to specialize in specific genres or types of editing where they excel most.
At FriesenPress, every editing candidate must pass our qualification exams based on the Editors Canada Professional Editing Standards, have at least two years of book editing experience, a robust range of genres/areas of expertise, and meet our standards for delivering a supportive, encouraging, and professional approach.
What Is an Acceptable Error Rate in Professional Book Editing?
Both Editors Canada and FriesenPress uphold a 90–95% accuracy standard on every edit.
No single round of editing can be wholly error-free. Even traditionally published books often come out with typos that managed to slip through multiple rounds of review! This is partly the reality of the human brain seeing what it expects to see, and partly that no editor can be a leading expert in every topic. By working with multiple editors, authors stand a better chance of covering any potential gaps in knowledge. FriesenPress assigns the best-fit editor, based on specialties and expertise, to provide informed and tailored feedback.
There are also exceptions to most every editorial rule, especially when it comes to how to treat numbers (in numerals or spelled out), when to hyphenate, when to use commas, whether quotations should be singular or double, and many more. Once a ruling is made, consistency is the most important factor to achieve a professional finished product.
Why Should You Choose a Human Editor Over an AI Writing Tool?
At FriesenPress, we protect your investment by taking editing very seriously. Our editors are kept up to date with the latest changes to style guides and dictionaries so we can uphold strict standards of no more than 5–10% error rates per round. For best results, a manuscript will go through multiple rounds to get the text as clean and professional as possible. We review author concerns with the aim of providing clarification, education, and solutions. If we have dropped below our quality standards, we make it right.
Our edits are always tailored to your project. Language is fluid, ever-evolving, and up to individual taste. A choice that might be right for a high-powered business book may be wholly inappropriate for a hard-boiled thriller, or a tender memoir, or a historical romance. Generative AI is based on the median likely option, which flattens your unique authorial voice and can introduce inconsistencies or outright errors. Our editors embrace the author’s preferences and apply their best judgement for each suggestion.
By using track changes, you can see every edit — unlike with LLMs, which may replace other aspects of the text that you didn’t want changed. The author retains the final say on which changes they accept or reject, giving you the chance to engage meaningfully with revisions by implementing further adjustments or alternate solutions as needed.
Ultimately, we want to empower our authors to grow as writers. Engaging in editing can strengthen your writing skills by learning from an editor’s professional expertise. Our editors are your allies to ensure your voice and meaning comes through strong and clear — and we stand by our work.
Astra Crompton (she/they) is an eclectic writer, editor, and illustrator with over twenty-five years of publishing experience. Her work has been published in anthologies, table-top RPG books, magazines, and in several novels. They have also successfully completed NaNoWriMo six times and counting. Astra is currently the Editing & Illustrations Coordinator at FriesenPress, where they manage, coordinate, and vet FriesenPress’s industry-leading editing and illustrations teams.
