Developmental Edit Example: A Sample Editorial Letter

A developmental edit usually arrives as two things: an editorial letter that explains the book's biggest problems in order of importance, and comments in the margins of your manuscript that point to where those problems show up. A manuscript assessment (or critique) is the letter alone, without the margin work.

Below is a full sample letter for a hypothetical novel, sample margin notes, and the published lengths and 2026 rates that tell you whether the edit you are quoted is a normal one.

StoryWith AI is our own product, so weigh what we say about it accordingly.

Key takeaways

• A developmental edit deals with content, structure and genre fit, not sentences. The Editorial Freelancers Association (EFA) calls these editors "substantive," "structural" or "content" editors.
• Published report lengths vary widely: from a 1 to 2 page summary plus margin comments, through about 2,500 to 4,000 words, up to letters of 10 to 30 pages.
• A good letter ranks problems, ties each one to chapters or scenes, explains why it matters for this genre, and leaves the fixing to you.
• The EFA's 2026 median ranges are 3.0 to 3.5 cents a word for a fiction developmental edit and 1.5 to 1.8 cents for a manuscript assessment. On 90,000 words that is $2,700 to $3,150 against $1,350 to $1,620.
• Read the letter once, put it away for a few days, then sort every note into "will change", "will think about" and "will not change" before you touch the manuscript.

What is in a developmental edit?

The EFA's editorial services definitions describe developmental editors as dealing with "content, organization, and genre considerations." After reviewing a manuscript they may give "an overall critique of the content" in a manuscript evaluation, or send a revision letter that outlines "the big-picture issues."

Line editors, by contrast, "work at the sentence or paragraph level," and copyeditors correct "spelling, grammar, usage, and punctuation." So if the notes you get back are mostly about word choice and commas, you did not get a developmental edit.

In practice, a developmental edit has up to three parts:

Definitions as listed on the EFA's editorial services page on 20 October 2026.

How long is a developmental editing letter?

There is no standard length, and the published figures show how wide the range is. Here is what editors and services say about their own reports:

As listed on Megan Harris's site (9 October 2025), TLC's "What to Expect" PDF (uploaded August 2023), Jericho Writers' manuscript assessment and developmental edit pages, janefriedman.com (Sarah Chauncey, 2019, updated 2025) and Dakota Nyght's blog (18 October 2023, updated 26 March 2026), on 20 October 2026.

Length is not the measure of quality. A short letter backed by detailed margin comments can do more than a long letter with none. What matters is whether the problems are ranked and located.

A sample developmental editing letter

This is a hypothetical letter we wrote to show the shape of a useful one. The novel, its characters and its problems are invented. A real letter would be longer and specific to your book, but the structure is the part worth copying.

Hypothetical example, not a real manuscript or a real editor's letter.

Manuscript A: editorial letter Upmarket mystery, 92,000 words, 31 chapters

What is working. The voice is the book's biggest asset. Nell's dry first person carries the opening chapters, and the island setting does real work: every clue depends on who can reach the mainland and when. The central question (who moved the body before the storm) is strong enough to sell the book. Please protect these things while you revise.

1. The investigation stalls in the middle third (chapters 11 to 19). Nell gathers information in these chapters, but nothing she learns changes what she does next. Each chapter ends where it began: she suspects Tom, and she has no new way to test it. Readers of this genre expect each discovery to close one door and open another. My suggestion is to look at the three interviews in chapters 12, 14 and 17 and ask what each one costs Nell. At least one should go badly enough to force a new plan.

2. The midpoint reveal arrives too late. The discovery that the ferry log was altered comes at about 70% of the way through (chapter 22). It is the most important turn in the book, and it reframes everything before it. At its current position, the last act has to absorb both the reveal and the solution. Consider moving it to around the halfway mark and letting chapters 23 to 31 deal with its consequences.

3. Two suspects do one job. Marcus and the harbourmaster both exist to have a motive and an alibi that falls apart. Neither has a want of his own. Merging them, or giving one of them a goal that crosses Nell's, would tighten the middle and remove about four scenes.

4. A setup with no payoff. The second key Nell finds in chapter 6 is mentioned again in chapter 9 and then never used. Either pay it off or cut both mentions; mystery readers track objects.

5. Smaller notes. The timeline across the storm night does not hold: Nell is on the pier at 11 pm in chapter 20 and at the house at the same hour in chapter 21. These are listed in the margin comments.

Where I would start. Fix 2 before anything else, because moving the reveal will change what the middle third needs to do, and may solve much of point 1 on its own. Then 3, then 1, then 4 and 5. I would leave line-level polishing until the structure is settled.

Notice what the letter does not do. It does not rewrite scenes, propose new dialogue or tell you what your book should be. It names the problem, shows where it lives, explains why it matters for the genre, and suggests an order of work.

What developmental margin comments look like

Margin comments in a developmental edit point at story problems in the place they occur. Line-edit comments look at the sentence. The difference is easiest to see side by side.

BubbleCow, an editing service, publishes sample developmental margin notes on example scenes. On a slow opening it writes "We open with weather and backstory. Start closer to the first decision Hannah makes." On a flat dialogue scene: "Put something real on the table. A key. A contract. A clock." Even its notes on single lines stay tied to the story: "Good tension between body and duty. Tighten the last clause. Gate still open carries the weight."

Here are hypothetical margin notes for the invented Manuscript A, at both levels:

Margin comments quoted from BubbleCow's sample developmental edit page (18 November 2025), as listed on 20 October 2026. The table rows are our own hypothetical examples.

Do not expect a sample edit of your pages before booking a developmental edit, though some editors offer a short one. The EFA, as quoted in EditFast's guide to sample edits (16 October 2026), says "Developmental editing is too large in scope to be captured by a short sample edit." Ask instead to see an anonymised letter the editor has written, or a description of how they structure theirs.

Developmental edit vs manuscript assessment vs line edit

Rates are the EFA's median ranges from its member survey covering work done in 2025, as listed on the-efa.org/rates on 20 October 2026. The EFA does not set or recommend rates. Dollar figures are our arithmetic for a hypothetical 90,000-word novel.

For non-fiction, the EFA's developmental range is higher, at 4.0 to 5.0 cents a word, or $3,600 to $4,500 on 90,000 words. Our editing cost calculator runs the same EFA rates for your own word count.

How should you read an editorial letter?

Slowly, and not all at once. Nathan Bransford, a former literary agent, advises writers to "read it once, put it away, and don't think about it or act on it for at least a couple of days." The Literary Consultancy's guide to its reports suggests taking "a few days away from it following an initial read."

Then turn the letter into a plan. Bransford suggests colour coding the letter (green for the changes you are definitely going to make), then listing the changes "from the most difficult/impactful to smallest." A simple version:

1. List every note from the letter and the margins in one document.
2. Sort each into "will change", "will think about" or "will not change, and here is why".
3. Rank the "will change" list from biggest to smallest, starting with whatever the letter says to fix first.
4. For each note you reject, look for the problem underneath. Bransford's advice is to "Drill past the surface suggestions and try to diagnose the root problems."
5. Revise structure first and sentences last, so you are not polishing scenes you later cut.

Our self-editing checklist covers the checks for each pass, and the guide to analyzing your novel's structure shows how to rebuild a reverse outline after big changes.

Quotes as listed on Nathan Bransford's blog (17 July 2023) and in TLC's "What to Expect" PDF (uploaded August 2023) on 20 October 2026.

What should you ask an editor before you book?

• Letter, margins or both? Ask what the deliverable is and roughly how long the letter runs.
• A call? Some editors include one; it is often where the most useful advice comes out.
• Genre experience. Ask which books in your genre they have edited, and check them.
• A sample of their letters. An anonymised extract shows whether they rank problems or just list them.
• Turnaround and payment schedule. Get both in writing.

Be wary of a quote with no word count attached, a "developmental edit" that comes back as tracked changes on sentences, or a letter that mostly recommends buying the next service.

Where StoryWith AI fits

StoryWith AI is not a developmental editor and does not write editorial letters. It reads the manuscript you wrote and returns one ranked list of findings (Book Health), sorted by severity, with each finding linked to the passage that caused it. Its analyzers cover structure, pacing, emotional arc, character arcs, dialogue, continuity and plot holes, readability, theme and scene purpose, as listed on the features page.

That makes it useful for the kind of problems in points 4 and 5 of the sample letter: a key with no payoff, a timeline that does not hold. Fixing those before an editor reads the book means the editor's hours go on points 1 to 3, which need judgment about genre, character and what the book is trying to be.

As listed on our pricing page on 20 October 2026, the free plan includes 50 one-time AI text actions and basic continuity scans, with no card. On a paid plan, a book-level pass of a 90,000-word novel, including a full continuity scan, uses about 18 actions, plus 5 once to import the manuscript. You can also check an opening of up to about 10,000 words with the free manuscript readiness score, without signing up.

It is the wrong tool if you want a human's taste and market judgment, a conversation about what your book should become, or someone to tell you which of two good versions is better. Those are what you pay a developmental editor for.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)

What does a developmental edit look like?

Usually an editorial letter that ranks the manuscript's biggest problems and explains them, plus comments in the margins of the manuscript showing where each problem appears. Some editors add a call. The focus is structure, plot, character, pacing and genre fit, not sentences.

How long is a developmental editing letter?

It varies by editor. Published figures range from a 1 to 2 page summary backed by margin comments, through reports of about 2,500 to 4,000 words, up to letters of 10 to 30 pages. Ask the editor what length to expect before you book.

What is the difference between a manuscript assessment and a developmental edit?

An assessment is a report on the whole book without detailed work in the manuscript. A developmental edit adds margin comments throughout, so each problem is located scene by scene. On the EFA's 2026 median ranges, an assessment costs about half as much per word.

How much does a developmental edit cost in 2026?

The EFA's 2026 median range for a fiction developmental edit is 3.0 to 3.5 cents a word, or $2,700 to $3,150 for 90,000 words. Non-fiction runs 4.0 to 5.0 cents a word. Individual quotes vary with the editor and the draft.

Can I get a sample developmental edit before hiring an editor?

Some editors offer one, but a few pages cannot show how an editor handles a whole book's structure. An anonymised extract from a real editorial letter, or a clear description of their process, usually tells you more.

How should I respond to an editorial letter?

Read it once and put it away for a few days. Then list every note, sort each into "will change", "will think about" and "will not change", and rank the changes from biggest to smallest. Start with the structural changes and leave line edits for last.

Can AI do a developmental edit?

Not in full. AI analysis can flag mechanical story problems such as unpaid setups, timeline slips and flat pacing, which is a useful first pass. It cannot judge what your book is trying to be or how it will land with readers and the market, which is the core of a developmental edit.