What is Developmental Editing? 

Invest in Your Book’s Success 

What Developmental Editing Looks Like 

Example 1: Strengthen the Opening 

Make Your First Impression Count 

BEFORE Developmental Edit: 

I started my business in 2010. It was hard at first, and I made a lot of mistakes. But eventually, I figured things out and became successful. I want to share what I learned with other entrepreneurs so they can avoid the same mistakes. In this book, I’ll tell you about my journey and give you tips for success.

AFTER Developmental Edit: 

The email from our biggest client landed like a bomb in my inbox: “We’re taking our business elsewhere.” In that moment, standing in my cramped home office in 2010, I faced the same choice every entrepreneur dreads—give up or rebuild. My company was hemorrhaging money, my savings were depleted, and I had just let go of half our staff. Yet that devastating email became the catalyst for the pivotal shift that would transform my struggling startup into a seven-figure business.

In this book, I’ll show you the exact framework I developed during that turnaround—a framework that has now helped over 1,000 entrepreneurs navigate their own business crises. But more importantly, I’ll share the deeper lessons about resilience, innovation, and leadership that only become clear when your back is against the wall.

Key Improvements: 

• Opens with a powerful moment of crisis
• Creates immediate emotional connection
• Establishes author’s credibility through specific results
• Clear value proposition for the reader
• Balances personal story with business promise

Example 2: Integrating Personal Story with Business Insights 

Weaving narrative and teaching seamlessly 

BEFORE Developmental Edit: 

Customer service is very important. You need to make sure your customers are happy and satisfied. Listen to their feedback and make improvements based on what they tell you. Good customer service will help your business grow.

• Here are some tips for good customer service:
• Respond quickly
• Be polite
• Solve problems efficiently

AFTER Developmental Edit: 

“I’ll never work with your company again!” The customer’s words rang in my ears as I sat in my car, fighting back tears. It was 2012, and I’d just lost a $50,000 contract because my team had missed three deadlines in a row. Our customer service system consisted of a shared Gmail inbox and Post-it notes—a setup that had worked fine when we were small but was now causing costly mistakes.

That night, I pulled out my laptop and began designing what would become the Customer Connection Framework™—a system that would transform our customer satisfaction rate from 68% to 98% in just six months. Here’s the exact process we used:

• The 15-Minute Response Rule: We installed a team notification system that ensured no customer waited more than 15 minutes for an initial response, even if that response was just acknowledging their message.
• The Empathy-Action Balance: We trained our team to follow a simple format:
•  Acknowledge the emotional impact (“I understand how frustrating these delays are…”)
•  Take immediate ownership (“I’m personally handling your project…”)

Key Improvements: 

• Opens with a vivid personal story 
• Connects emotional moment to business lesson 
• Provides specific, actionable solutions 
• Includes concrete results and metrics
• Uses trademark system to establish authority 

Example 3: Enhancing Teaching Points 

Making business lessons memorable 

BEFORE Developmental Edit: 

To grow your business, you need good systems. Systems help you scale and make things more efficient. You should document your processes and train your team well. This will help you expand and make more money.

AFTER Developmental Edit: 

I stared at the untouched stack of 127 client proposals on my desk, each representing thousands in potential revenue. My business was growing, but I was drowning. Every proposal required my personal touch, every decision needed my approval, and every client expected direct access to me. I had become the bottleneck in my own company’s growth.

This is what I call the Founder’s Trap™—when your business’s success becomes its biggest threat because everything depends on you. Breaking free required a complete mindset shift and the development of what I now teach as the Scale-Ready System™:

• The 70% Rule: Document any process you perform more than once, aiming for 70% effectiveness. Why 70%? Because waiting for perfection keeps you stuck. Our first client onboarding document was far from perfect, but it immediately freed up 5 hours of my week.
• The Delegation Matrix: Create this simple but powerful tool to categorize tasks:
  • Must be done by you (strategy, key relationships)
  • Must be done with your input (major decisions, high-stakes client work)
  • Must be done to your standards (client deliverables, team communication)

Key Improvements: 

• Begins with a relatable pain point 
• Uses specific numbers and metrics
• Creates proprietary concepts 
• Provides clear, actionaable framework
• Balances theory with practical application