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From: Ridge, Judith <Judith.Ridge>
Date: Wed, 2 Jul 2003 12:17:04 +1000
Well, let me first of all apologise if my toss-away line misrepresented you. However, your emphasis on the notion that Writers always have complete freedom and that the editor is beholden to respect the writer's decision or else cancel the contract led me to this summary of your position.
The truth is writers do not always have complete freedom and their wishes are not always acceded to and we should be grateful to good, sensitive and experienced editors that this is the case. (we should also acknowledge that this is the real world of commercial publishing we're talking about and it simply isn't true that writers always have complete freedom! which is tangential, although not irrelevant to the point I am trying to make here.) I am not promoting ruthless and egotistical editors running roughshod over a manuscript. I am suggesting that a professional and experienced writer who has their own ego in check fully appreciates the input a good editor gives to their work and will indeed sometimes make radical changes (and sometimes merely minor ones), to a work if they are working with an editor they trust. This is why authors will often follow their editor from house to house - or used to, anyway, in the good old days where editors and writers set the agendas in publishing houses, not the marketing department.
Have a read of "Dear Genuis" for a fabulous insight into the life and work of Ursula Nordstrom, the great children's editor of the 40s, 50s, 60s and 70s. She put some of her authors through every hard work indeed, and so the world has Charlotte's Web, Harriet the Spy, Where the Wild Things Are. Yes, of course the world has them because of the authors, but each one of those authors would attest to the fact that they wouldn't be the books they were without Nordstrom.
Judith
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Received on Tue 01 Jul 2003 09:17:04 PM CDT
Date: Wed, 2 Jul 2003 12:17:04 +1000
Well, let me first of all apologise if my toss-away line misrepresented you. However, your emphasis on the notion that Writers always have complete freedom and that the editor is beholden to respect the writer's decision or else cancel the contract led me to this summary of your position.
The truth is writers do not always have complete freedom and their wishes are not always acceded to and we should be grateful to good, sensitive and experienced editors that this is the case. (we should also acknowledge that this is the real world of commercial publishing we're talking about and it simply isn't true that writers always have complete freedom! which is tangential, although not irrelevant to the point I am trying to make here.) I am not promoting ruthless and egotistical editors running roughshod over a manuscript. I am suggesting that a professional and experienced writer who has their own ego in check fully appreciates the input a good editor gives to their work and will indeed sometimes make radical changes (and sometimes merely minor ones), to a work if they are working with an editor they trust. This is why authors will often follow their editor from house to house - or used to, anyway, in the good old days where editors and writers set the agendas in publishing houses, not the marketing department.
Have a read of "Dear Genuis" for a fabulous insight into the life and work of Ursula Nordstrom, the great children's editor of the 40s, 50s, 60s and 70s. She put some of her authors through every hard work indeed, and so the world has Charlotte's Web, Harriet the Spy, Where the Wild Things Are. Yes, of course the world has them because of the authors, but each one of those authors would attest to the fact that they wouldn't be the books they were without Nordstrom.
Judith
********************************************************************** This message is intended for the addressee named and may contain privileged information or confidential information or both. If you are not the intended recipient please delete it and notify the sender.
**********************************************************************
Received on Tue 01 Jul 2003 09:17:04 PM CDT
