Substantive editing and developmental editing are often used interchangeably. But I learned from an editor who was an in-house editor at traditional publishing houses for decades some super interesting distinctions. Once I learned the difference, I was floored that more seasoned editors didn't make these distinctions in their material!

Here is one article that explains the difference between developmental and substantive editing: https://bookeditor-jessihoffman.com/developmental-edit-substantive-edit-difference/.

In my business, I treat them separately.

Hopefully it was a good experience.

We all have those holes that we don't know how to fill!!

I ALWAYS need that continuity edit because I'm a story quilter - I write the whole book by scene and then stitch it together. It's the only way I'm able to finish a book but there are always holes where I don't "stitch" as well as I thought I did!

You wouldn't be the only author I met who thought that 🙂

And I have heard you talk about them before. It has to be frustrating when you know you want to fix something, but it is not your job to do the fixing.