Quote:
Originally Posted by Ralph Sir Edward
Part of the reaction to off-shoring is the loss to the business of detailed, unique, skilled experience, which is corporation specific, that is also being thrown out the door as well, in the name of saving a few bucks. And as people like McKinsey have noted, by the time you implement all the new managerial controls to make the process work, you don't save that much money. But....not my problem any more.
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Ralph, I'm with you on this. Much of U.S. editorial work in the past 5 years has been off-shored from the U.S. to India and other countries where editors will work for significantly less. These off-shore editors charge between one-fifth and one-tenth of what a capable, experienced, skilled U.S. editor can charge and the publishers are taking advantage of that to either off-shore the work or depress the local wage. But the result is also a lessening of the quality, which we see when we pick up a book and note all the errors.
This is not to imply that the editors in these other countries are not skilled -- they are skilled; they just are not skilled in the culture of the U.S. I would find it very hard to competently edit a book intended for the Indian market because of my lack of familiarity with the culture.
The biggest problem in all industries is that the focus is on the quarterly dividend for shareholders rather than on what is good for either the company or the country long term. Publishers off-shore my work but then call me wondering why I haven't bought the latest edition of XYZ for my work library. Can't buy what I can't pay for doesn't seem to get through to them.