My feelings on editors.

******
Do note that Anne Rice confirmed that the below excerpt did come from her and she did so in a comment to this post!!! What? How she happened to see my blog in the massive blogosphere, (where I can only hope to be read,) I'll never know. But it is what it is. So jump to the comments if you're interested. You certainly won't see someone along the lines of Anne Rice commenting on my blog very often . . . if ever again. But at least the ten or fifteen who follow my blog might be impressed. ;)
************

I've pretty strong feelings about having an MS edited and I've shared them before. But to better understand the different feelings some well-known authors have about editors one must truly understand the nature of publishing. Otherwise, the information put out will have one switching from one idea back to another based on who said what.

I recently read a "supposed" entry made by Anne Rice on Amazon. Do understand that I did NOT go beyond reading it to see if the post was legitimate. So while I say the post was from Anne Rice and thus most likely reflects her views, I'm not 100% certain. It did sound like something she would say but even if she wasn't the one who wrote it, I do know it is the way many long-time published authors feel. Here's the excerpt from what I read (again, maybe Anne Rice, maybe not.)


". . . and no, I have no intention of allowing any editor ever to distort, cut, or otherwise mutilate sentences that I have edited and re-edited, and organized and polished myself. I fought a great battle to achieve a status where I did not have to put up with editors making demands on me, and I will never relinquish that status. For me, novel writing is a virtuoso performance. It is not a collaborative art. . . ."

After reading this one is tempted to walk away saying,"ha, see! I don't need an editor."

My response to that is this. ALL larger published authors are at the mercy of those editors who work for the publishers whose job it is to produce a book that they've decided will sell better than say some other book. More times than not, they will drastically cut, rework and otherwise revise an MS until it's virtually unrecognizable leaving enough of the authors voice in to make it distinguishable from all the other stuff they put out.

These editors are in no way reflective of the work a professional editor can do for you if you're self-published or with a small press who can't afford to hire an editor (beyond perhaps a line-editor.) An editor you hire yourself will ask you at every turn and only suggests things to make your work more readable. Acceptance is based on what you want, not what they want. Any contentions large published authors have with their editors stems from the fact that they have little control over what these editors want to do with their MS. The author above states they've fought long and hard to have it the way they want it. Seems like they could've saved themselves the trouble of a fight by going with a publisher that will give them the final say. Many have said for years that going with a large publisher means giving up everything, a sort of selling-your-soul-to-the-devil scenario. Perhaps back in the day larger publishers hid information from authors they signed. I don't know. But everyone knows today that large published authors have to "fight" to have their work not edited so much that it isn't even their story anymore. Even at that I wish large published authors would clarify when they speak so horrendously of being edited and editors in general.


Just keep in mind that the excerpt above, (no matter who said it as it's all been said before) means that most, if not every large published author, hates that they don't have the final say on their edits. Just keep in mind that it's a very different scenario when you're hiring your own editor. And if you feel that writing isn't a collaborative experience between writer and editor then it will be a very, very long journey for you indeed and you most likely won't make it to your destination at all. It IS a collaborative work and as many large published authors believe otherwise there are just as many who disagree. J K Rowling is one. At least she got something right. HA!