don't you want those titles to be worth the paper it's printed on?
They still print books?
And while yes, I would, to some extent publishers are up against the same dilemma lawyers are. No one like all the ambulance chasers with the frivolous lawsuits (which, I hastily add, is not a lob at all lawyers, or even all personal injury lawyers - many, if not most, do good work). But as a lawyer once explained it to me, those frivolous lawsuits often come about because as a lawyer, when a client walks in, even if you know it's unlikely to win, you also know that if you don't take the client, someone else will.
Which means someone else gets the money that you could be getting instead, if you just agree to take the client on. And you know that, somewhere out there, some lawyer, less ethical than you are, and perhaps less skilled, will take them on if you don't. In which case, it's also in the potential client's interests.
So you take the client, because very few lawyers can afford to turn down the potential business.
I only ever worked in academic publishing, but even there, it was often a lot like that. And with everything being as it is, I suspect many publishers, especially smaller presses, are faced with the same dilemma. "If we don't publish it, someone else will."
You could argue they need to hire better editors, but there are problems there, too.
If anything, I say fault the author.
