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Every single one of my books has benefited from helpful editing--some more, some less. I can't imagine publishing a book without an editor. Are the suggestions and requests from my editors always right? No, of course not. I'd say that the editorial comments I've gotten fall into three classes:
1. The editor's right, and the suggested changes are good ones.
2. The editor's right that something's wrong. I don't like the suggestion for fixing it, so I find a better way.
3. Upon careful consideration, discussion, and sometimes argument, I decide the editor's wrong and I decline the suggestion. But the suggestion was still helpful, because it's forced me to think through why I made certain decisions, and now I better understand my own thinking.
I've never had a change forced on me by an editor. If I did, that would probably be the end of our working together. My editor's bottom line: "It's your book. It's your funeral." Said with good humor.
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