Quote:
Originally Posted by Catlady
Well, that remark makes me think the editor was a pretentious, disrespectful jerk.
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He may well have been; I never met him although I did get a personal rejection letter from him once (and never submitted anything to
Astounding/Analog again).
All of us who get involved with writing and editing have to be somewhat arrogant to expect payment for what another friend once described to me as "a skill learned by the third grade." In Campbell's case, I think his comment had more to do with Wayne's payment schedule of $20/published page which led Campbell to submit first drafts rather than take the time to polish anything at all.
However his rejection letter was rather acidic -- although directly to the point -- and at the time I was far too inexperienced (and too arrogant myself) to realize what it meant to get more than a printed rejection form, especially from the top editor in the genre.