‘There will be no more professional writers in the future’

[ApK]

Originally Posted by HarryT

because in both cases they were long passages of dialogue where it just so happened that the text still made sense even with the pages omitted.

1. How did you manage to catch it?

2. If it still made sense with two page removed, sounds like the author could have done a bit more editing!

(kidding...I'm sure every word was a work of art. )

[mr ploppy]

Originally Posted by LuvReadin

Most editors will also be willing to do an editing test or a few sample pages, but they'll generally expect to be paid for this - there are far too many scams around with people trying to get their 'sample' chapters done for nothing.

I suppose you could take advantage of that by sending each chapter to a different editor for a free sample, but you wouldn't get any kind of consistency throughout the book.

I pick up work by sending unsolicited edits of things I read along with a price list if they want any more, but I only do that for things that I actually read for fun (and therefore expect their other titles to entertain me). I've thought about offering to do a free short story to anyone who wants it, but some things need a lot more work than others. Plus I'd probably end up deluged with crap I have no interest in and it would seem more like work than anything else.

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by ApK

1. How did you manage to catch it?

Because I always proof against a printed text - for that very reason. LOTS of eBooks have text missing from them.

[fjtorres]

Originally Posted by Catlady

Have the offerings today improved, or just proliferated and fragmented?

You tell me: Game of Thrones, Warehouse 13, Chopped, Longmire, all on cable.

Versus: Two and a half men, Big Bang Theory, Modern family, on broadcast.

Less popular but far better: Castle, Grimm, Terra Nova (cancelled!), House (ended)

Mass media tends to the lowest common denominator so proliferation and fragmentation arguably opens the door to a better breed of show if the producers don't have (to pander) to try to reach every last potential viewer.

[rhadin]

Originally Posted by Catlady

And he's nuts if he thinks a copyeditor gets $10,000 for a single assignment.

Interesting that you say this. I have been paid much more than $10,000 for a single copyediting assignment many times over my career. Of course, it does depend on what you are editing, how long the project is, and how long it takes to do the work.

[Kumabjorn]

@rhadin
That has to be something very academic with expected longevity, my guess would be in the medical field.

[BeccaPrice]

"Common culture" used to be things like I Love Lucy, and Father Knows Best, and the like. I much prefer our current fragmented culture, where I can actually find things that I like.

[Steven Lyle Jordan]

I feel for Morrison; it's never easy when your livelihood goes through a major change or gets eradicated. The new publishing business models will be radically different from those of the 20th century, and not everyone will be able to carry on as they once did.

But the article title is sensationalist and just plain wrong. There will always be a need for "professional writers," those employed by another party to write, and especially writers who know more about a particular field of expertise, or have access to the insiders in that field.

If the "advance salary" model of the major publishers is indeed going away... well, maybe that's a good thing. Personally, I'd say only a major publisher could convince a large segment of the population that "Tales from the Mall" could be “a really important step towards a literature of the 21st century.”

[bigjantailor]

Originally Posted by fjtorres

You tell me: Game of Thrones, Warehouse 13, Chopped, Longmire, all on cable.

Versus: Two and a half men, Big Bang Theory, Modern family, on broadcast.

Less popular but far better: Castle, Grimm, Terra Nova (cancelled!), House (ended)

Mass media tends to the lowest common denominator so proliferation and fragmentation arguably opens the door to a better breed of show if the producers don't have (to pander) to try to reach every last potential viewer.

Agreed... its like living in a big city, you've got the choice to find a group of folks you can relate to, instead of being in a small town where being different ain't so accepted.

Have fun, Jan

[DarkScribe]

Originally Posted by rhadin

Interesting that you say this. I have been paid much more than $10,000 for a single copyediting assignment many times over my career. Of course, it does depend on what you are editing, how long the project is, and how long it takes to do the work.

For Copy Editing? Not for structural editing? That would a a very large fee for a copy edit, though not uncommon for a major structural edit. Some structural edits can take weeks - even months in some cases. I had one in 2110 that took eighteen weeks, it was a well known, well established writer who was in the very early stages of senility. We knew that the name would sell, there was a an established reader-base, so it was worth the time and cost. Most copy edits are straight forward and relatively swift.

If you can get in excess of ten thousand for a copy edit, I think that I want live where you live. What's the climate like there?

Originally Posted by Kumabjorn

That has to be something very academic with expected longevity, my guess would be in the medical field.

It wouldn't surprise me if these steep fees hit many different types of publication. I think that many people seem to forget that there are many different types of publication, and the responsibilities of the copy editor will vary according to the type of publication. Copy editing for a novel is going to be fairly light weight compared to a non-fiction book for a general audience. Copy editing a non-fiction book for a general audience is going to require less effort and fewer specialized skills than an academic text. Clearly you aren't going to pay the same rates in those cases.

Is $10,000 reasonable? I don't know. I've only done copy editing once, was paid hourly, and it certainly cost the author in the thousands of dollars. That book was at the border of general non-fiction and academic.

[DarkScribe]

Originally Posted by BWinmill

It wouldn't surprise me if these steep fees hit many different types of publication. I think that many people seem to forget that there are many different types of publication, and the responsibilities of the copy editor will vary according to the type of publication. Copy editing for a novel is going to be fairly light weight compared to a non-fiction book for a general audience. Copy editing a non-fiction book for a general audience is going to require less effort and fewer specialized skills than an academic text. Clearly you aren't going to pay the same rates in those cases.

Is $10,000 reasonable? I don't know. I've only done copy editing once, was paid hourly, and it certainly cost the author in the thousands of dollars. That book was at the border of general non-fiction and academic.

If you get away from fiction, yes, that can be very different. The most difficult editing jobs - we are in the middle of several now - are for annual reports for major public corporations - the financial reports in particular. The figures have to be exact, all director and senior management reports have to vetted from both a legal and an investor viewpoint. We have to carry much higher and more comprehensive insurance as an error - even if the client signs off on it - can result in a major lawsuit. That sort of editing can often go well over twenty-five, even thirty-five thousand dollars. Editing a novel, by comparison, is simplicity.

[LuvReadin]

Originally Posted by HarryT

The worst one I've done based on a PG text was "The Old Curiosity Shop" in which there were two places where a complete double page of text had been missed out - whoever scanned the book must have turned two pages by mistake. That's something that DP may very well NOT have picked up, because in both cases they were long passages of dialogue where it just so happened that the text still made sense even with the pages omitted.

Plus each proofreader only gets a page at a time, so they wouldn't be able to tell.

[LuvReadin]

Originally Posted by mr ploppy

I suppose you could take advantage of that by sending each chapter to a different editor for a free sample, but you wouldn't get any kind of consistency throughout the book

Correct, and people (including companies supposedly soliciting for proofreaders or editors) do try to do that! I suspect consistency is of very little concern to them.

[rhadin]

Originally Posted by Kumabjorn

@rhadin
That has to be something very academic with expected longevity, my guess would be in the medical field.

An accurate guess, in my case. However, I do know editors who have earned similarly in nonacademic areas. My point, obliquely made, was that a single, emphatic, all-encompassing statement about fees cannot possibly be accurate. There simply are too many factors that enter the equation.