Romancing The Muses

Recently a NY Times bestselling author that I very much admire had a release and not long after, comments were left on her forum regarding this latest work. I'm not going to name names because (1) I can only imagine she has been hurt enough by what has been said and (2) it isn't the point of this blog. What was all the hoopla about, you are wondering? Editing.

Now I will agree on some of the things that have been said. There were errors throughout the entire book, things a good editor should have caught. Since I have never been NY published, I do not know firsthand the editing process at the Big Six but I can't imagine it is that different from places like Loose Id or Samhain. There are multiple rounds of edits, line edits, post-proof reviews, and for print, galleys. Multiple eyes comb through a manuscript before it goes on sale.

What I did find interesting and completely unfair was the castrating of the author on both Amazon and Goodreads and I'll explain why. It is very easy when going through your manuscript to miss things. Sometimes your mind plays tricks on you, substituting the correct word for the error written on the page. And sometimes you are just too close to the ms to see the flaws. That is why we have crit partners and editors. To lay the blame on the author alone is hardly fair.

And this author is not alone. I have noticed, especially recently, the decline in editing at the Big Six. Now have these problems always been there? Or am I just noticing them because I have been through the editing process myself (with a quite wonderful editor, I might add)? I am curious. What do you think?