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Kayleigh | Developmental Editor ✍🏻📚

@editsinthemargins.com

1.4K followers 1.9K following 4.4K posts

I help writers to shape their stories and hone their skills via developmental editing, coaching, beta reading, workshopping, and more. As a writer, I enjoy kid lit and exploring fantastical worlds. 🐉 https://editsinthemargins.com/social

editsinthemargins.com

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Kayleigh | Developmental Editor ✍🏻📚 @editsinthemargins.com · May 27

Now that I have a new service to offer, it’s time to update these slides.

Editing means something different to everyone, and each writer has a different journey from blank page to finished product. I started In the Margins to support fiction authors in their creative journey, and that means . . . ⬇️

Which of my services is best for your needs?

The services I offer:
Developmental editing
Skilled beta reading
Coaching
1:1 workshopping

Which one is right for you? It depends on your needs & budget.

Let's break it down.

Developmental Editing

Goal: Strengthening a completed manuscript

What I do: A manuscript deep dive. I provide detailed feedback and suggestions on big picture elements (i.e. timing, characters, plot lines).

What you get: Detailed marginal notes, light inline edits, and a 10- to 20-page feedback letter.

Time and cost: $$$$
Because it takes about one week per 20,000 words, developmental editing is the most expensive of my services.

Skilled Beta Reading

Goal: Getting general feedback

What I do: A temperature check. I respond to your story as a (skilled) reader, providing my thoughts on strengths and weaknesses, and my overall questions and suggestions.

What you get: Occasional marginal notes and a 2-3 page feedback letter.

Time and cost: $$
Because it requires significantly less time and feedback, skilled beta reading costs far less than developmental editing.

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Kayleigh | Developmental Editor ✍🏻📚 @editsinthemargins.com · 1h

Dear Writer,

Stop trying to sound like someone else—you're you, and that's lovely.

Love, Kayleigh

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Kayleigh | Developmental Editor ✍🏻📚 @editsinthemargins.com · 2h

It absolutely is!

Kayleigh | Developmental Editor ✍🏻📚 @editsinthemargins.com · 13h

a woman wearing sunglasses and a green shirt stands in front of an airplane

Alt: a woman wearing sunglasses and a green shirt stands in front of an airplane

media.tenor.com

Kayleigh | Developmental Editor ✍🏻📚 @editsinthemargins.com · 14h

Eden Sandoval @edenwritesbooks.bsky.social · 2d

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Kayleigh | Developmental Editor ✍🏻📚 @editsinthemargins.com · 18h

Who else has had this moment? (With writing or any other passion, really.) 🙋🏻‍♀️😅

“That's the fear, isn't it? That I'll freeze this way, forever trapped in the act of trying to write. I often wake up in the dead of night, suddenly afraid that I've written my last good sentence. That there are, in fact, no good sentences left. I imagine a weary, aproned lady sweeping the floor of my mind, wiping her brow, pulling the shutters, switching the sign on the door from OPEN to CLOSED. Sorry, her expression seems to say, we're fresh out of sentences.”

—from BETTER BY FAR by Hazel Hayes

Kayleigh | Developmental Editor ✍🏻📚 @editsinthemargins.com · 20h

. . . they all go through their own mini developmental edit to become the report I share with the author.

—

Day 8 of the #EditorsTeaClubCommunity social challenge: What's something your clients don't see behind the scenes?

Kayleigh | Developmental Editor ✍🏻📚 @editsinthemargins.com · 20h

. . . in bed noodling through it and will have to shoot myself an email for the morning.

All of this thinking and processing and questioning is where the human touch of an edit comes from. There are just so. many. notes. And eventually . . . ⬇️

Kayleigh | Developmental Editor ✍🏻📚 @editsinthemargins.com · 20h

I'll be doing the dishes or making dinner when a thought or question occurs to me and I need to stop to write it down. I'll be driving and trying to puzzle out an issue I encountered within a manuscript, so I often have to record voice notes. Hell, sometimes I'll be . . . ⬇️

Kayleigh | Developmental Editor ✍🏻📚 @editsinthemargins.com · 20h

. . . my observations and questions regarding characters, world elements, plot points (and holes), themes, etc. When actively editing, I’ll have a notebook next to me, stickies, and often the notepad open on my laptop as well.

But it doesn’t really stop when I get up from my laptop.

⬇️

Kayleigh | Developmental Editor ✍🏻📚 @editsinthemargins.com · 20h

The thing is, I don’t just read stories all day.

I study and meditate on the manuscript in front of me. Not only am I combing through slowly and leaving comments, I’m jumping through the document to look for or double-check conflicting information. Or I’m taking hoards of notes full of . . . ⬇️

Kayleigh | Developmental Editor ✍🏻📚 @editsinthemargins.com · 20h

Often I see new editors offering/authors requesting developmental edits for a couple hundred dollars—recently I saw an author ask for one for just £50. It’s clear in those moments that there’s a misunderstanding of costs and how much time a professional spends when completing a proper dev edit. ⬇️

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Kayleigh | Developmental Editor ✍🏻📚 @editsinthemargins.com · 21h

😭💜 Thank you, Jordan!

Kayleigh | Developmental Editor ✍🏻📚 @editsinthemargins.com · 21h

Literary agents! If you're looking for grumpy/sunshine YA romance with an athletic theme, you'll love Kerry's manuscript. 💜

Diary Of A Would-Be Author (she/her) @justmeker.bsky.social · 22h

ELDEST DAUGHTER x MINE

🥋 Jordyn is a competitive martial artist with her sights set on 🏅
🏈 Connor is an ex Varsity football player looking for a new start.
👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 Both have complicated families.
If they can get out of their own way, this 😡 and ☀️ just might get everything they want.
##DVPIT #YA #R

Kayleigh | Developmental Editor ✍🏻📚 @editsinthemargins.com · 21h

I think it's because the term AI has come to be associated specifically (and negatively) with *generative* AI so a lot of people don't realize that things that have existed for a long time like spellcheck or dictation are themselves a form of AI.

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Kayleigh | Developmental Editor ✍🏻📚 @editsinthemargins.com · 22h

Apple's dictation is AI (assistive, similar to a feature like spellcheck, not generative), but I won't use OpenAI or anything else like it if that's what you mean, esp. when working on client manuscripts.

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Kayleigh | Developmental Editor ✍🏻📚 @editsinthemargins.com · 22h

Wishing all the #DVPit folks luck today!

#DVpit - Diverse Voices Pitch @dvpit.bsky.social · 1d

TOMORROW (Oct 8th) is #DVpit! Any unagented Marginalized writer or artist seeking out representation is invited to participate from 8AM - 8PM ET!
Please make sure you review our rules & guidelines before the event: dvpit.carrd.co#faq

#writersky #booksky #artistsky #weneeddiversebooks

#DVPit Rules
-#DVpit (Diverse Voices Pitch) is a Bluesky event for marginalized creators that have been historically underrepresented in publishing to pitch their work to agents & editors
-Post your pitch on Bluesky on Wednesday, Oct 8, 2025
between 8AM ET - 8PM ET
-Only post once per hour (6 max pitches per project)
-Must have a polished, query ready manuscript or art portfolio.
-Pitch must include the #DVpit hashtag (illustrators pitching their art must use the #DVArt hashtag)
-A like from an agent = a query request
-A repost from an editor = interest in submission once you've signed with an agent
-A like from an editor = editor who takes unagented submissions
-Please do not like or repost a pitch if you are not an agent or an editor. Support other creators by replying to their pitch or
quote-reposting their pitches
-Visit dvpit.carrd.co for more detailed guidelines.

#DVpit 2025 has 70+ Agents & Editors committed to participate & boost marginalized creators from the following literary agencies and publishers:
Andrea Brown Lit
Ash Literary
Azantian Literary Agency
Dystel, Goderich & Bourret
Folio Literary Management
Gallt & Zacker Literary
Gelfman Schneider Literary
Hachette
Grand Central Publishing
Little Brown Books for Young Readers
Harper Collins
Harlequin
Hanover Square
HG Literary
Inked in Gray Press
Jill Grinberg Literary
Jean V. Naggar Literary Agency
Macmillan
Feiwel & Friends
Farrar, Straus & Giroux
Roaring Brook Press
Saturday books
Wednesday books
Mad Woman Literary
Neighborhood Literary
New Leaf Literary & Media
Open Book Literary
Page Street Publishing
Park, Fine & Brower
Penguin Random House
Ballantine
Berkley
Delacorte
Labyrinth Road
Penguin Workshop
Viking
Root Literary
Simon & Schuster
Aladdin
Atheneum
Atria
McElderry
Sheldon Fogelman Agency
Sourcebooks
Stonefruit Studio
Triada US
Writers House
Zando

Kayleigh | Developmental Editor ✍🏻📚 @editsinthemargins.com · 23h

As a New Englander, I speak fast. Neither my MacBook nor my iPhone appreciate this. So on days like today when I need to use dictation to avoid further angering the nerve compression in my elbow, I wind up with comments that say things like "woodwork" instead of "would work."

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Kayleigh | Developmental Editor ✍🏻📚 @editsinthemargins.com · 1d

Yes! That's exactly it. 💜

Kayleigh | Developmental Editor ✍🏻📚 @editsinthemargins.com · 1d

. . . peel back the layers to find problem areas and offer creative solutions that best serve the reader and their experience.

Kayleigh | Developmental Editor ✍🏻📚 @editsinthemargins.com · 1d

. . . a form of support to my clients and to those in the writing community.

When it comes to the work itself, I approach every manuscript with curiosity and honesty. My purpose is not to dictate how an author works or to impose my own preferences on a story. Instead, I am there to . . . ⬇️

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Kayleigh | Developmental Editor ✍🏻📚 @editsinthemargins.com · 1d

Today’s #EditorsTeaClubCommunity prompt:
What is your editing philosophy?

I believe that a strong creative collaboration is one built on trust, understanding, and communication. As such, I conduct my business with authenticity and care, seeking to be not only a resource but . . . ⬇️

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Kayleigh | Developmental Editor ✍🏻📚 @editsinthemargins.com · 1d

Read the full testimonial (and others!) on my website: editsinthemargins.com/kudos/

Kudos - In the Margins Editing & Writing Services

Read the experiences of authors I’ve worked with.

editsinthemargins.com

Kayleigh | Developmental Editor ✍🏻📚 @editsinthemargins.com · 1d

This testimonial from Richard blew me away. His manuscript was a unique one for me: a lesson for his language-learning students wrapped up in a mystery he illustrated himself. It was so much fun to work through, and I’m grateful that I could show up for him (and his students!) in this way. 💜

From Richard P: "To say she is thorough is an understatement. Her analysis is surgical. You can try to explain your story to someone and hope they “get it,” but Kayleigh was drawing connections I hadn’t even considered and suggesting possibilities I never would have thought of. It was obvious she invested deeply in the work to understand it on that level."

Get the full testimonial on my site!

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Kayleigh | Developmental Editor ✍🏻📚 @editsinthemargins.com · 1d

Yeah, I'm really torn right now between being annoyed this will happen another day and being happy I won't have to worry about coaching calls being cut off. 😆

Kayleigh | Developmental Editor ✍🏻📚 @editsinthemargins.com · 1d

They just texted that they couldn't fix it today so they'll be back at some undetermined time. I guess at least I'm able to work again.

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