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Originally Posted by Hitch
I realize that this thread is oldish, but...I disagree that "good editing" or "proper editing" is subjective.[...snipped for brevity only...]
Anyway...I don't think that the "need" for editing is subjective. [...]
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Certainly the need for editing is not subjective, writers need as much help as they can get. But "good editing" is definitely subjective. I could list a large number of professionally edited books, published by big names, that
in my opinion were poorly edited. Yes, their proof-reading pass was fine, very few obvious mistakes, but their structural editing was appalling and they let a 200 page story get published as 500 pages (or whatever).
The thing is that you can't really separate the writing from the editing. All writers do some of their own editing - it's just part of the job - and are responsible for implementing recommendations from external editors. Many passes are required but exactly how many will vary from work-to-work and the tastes of those involved. It's all subjective.
All the reader gets to see is the end result, so they have no idea how much was the fault of the one or more editors, and how much was the author not following recommendations - or not even asking for them.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Hitch
[...] This is for work that they are selling. Now, let's apply that same logic to a slightly different scenario--my business. Let's say that you, the author, hire us to do the layout and formatting on your book. You get it back, and it doesn't look good. In fact, in places, it's pretty crappy. And I smile, and I say to you:
Quote:
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"Oh, that's Jane. She just started with us. She's new to formatting, and she's just learning. You don't mind, right?"
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[...] |
I am not defending the "I don't need no freakin editing" lobby, but unless you are charging $0.99c for Jane's work, and letting the buyer see the first 10% of it before deciding whether to buy, the analogy doesn't hold up all that well. A lot of the books you are complaining about are completely free, very few cost more than a couple of dollars, and pretty much all let the reader decide in advance whether the quality is good enough for their own tastes. And, if the reader finds out they were wrong they free to put a 1 star review and abuse the writer online - in the public eye for all to see for the rest of the writer's career.
In most cases the books from those that don't care at all about editing are pretty obvious. Once you start looking at the books put out by those that do care, the subjective nature of what constitutes proper editing begins to show.