To what extent am I free to object to my editor's changes?

Anna Iguana

reading all the things
Super Member
Registered
Joined
Jan 16, 2017
Messages
925
Reaction score
219
Location
US
She has put a lot of effort and time into editing my story, and withdrawing it now feels... just unspeakably rude!

It's still your story, and it would be published under your name. If you haven't signed a contract, nobody should make you publish work under your name that you're not comfortable is sufficiently yours and/or sufficiently polished.

I Googled withdrawing etiquette and found countless articles written by editors warning against withdrawing and stressing that editors have long memories and I'm honestly at a loss.

[snip]

I'm tempted to just ask her, what do we do now? I need these things changed back and you'd rather not. But I don't want to end my chances with other editors -- I don't know if editors are like doctors who might label a troublesome patient as a nuisance and warn fellow doctors.

I don't think these are implausible fears; among literary journals, there are networks of people who tend to know and support each other. However, you'd probably have to do something way more outrageous than you've described in this thread for anybody to bother mentioning you to anybody else. I mean, it's not worth an editor's time.

At worst, you might have to write off submitting to this one publication for a while. And given how uncomfortable you felt with this journal's process, why would you want to send more stuff there? The good news is, there are literally hundreds of other literary journals.

If you're working with a particularly prestigious journal, I might try to hang in there. (I don't know what your goals are, but publications in some journals really do open a few doors--or, at least, get attention.)

If I were withdrawing a story, I'd send a brief, positive note, saying thank you rather than getting into my concerns about the process.

Sorry that you're having this experience.
 
Last edited:

novicewriter

Super Member
Registered
Joined
Aug 16, 2017
Messages
293
Reaction score
48
One last question, but first thank you so much to everyone who took the time to help me out. I brought up all my points and she accepted some of my requests but not all of them. I felt perhaps she has a better view with her years of experience and said okay...this is possibly my biggest problem: Since the very first email I received telling me she was interested in my story if I was willing to make a couple of changes, it has been nothing but requests for more and more changes plus more changes made by her. I understand it's a back-and-forth process, but why didn't she point out everything she didn't like at the beginning? This time I was a little more assertive about what I didn't want changed but she refused most of my points. My question is this: After weeks and weeks of back-and-forth emails and revisions (mostly by her; recently by her assistants), now what? She has put a lot of effort and time into editing my story, and withdrawing it now feels... just unspeakably rude!...
I'm tempted to just ask her, what do we do now? I need these things changed back and you'd rather not. But I don't want to end my chances with other editors -- I don't know if editors are like doctors who might label a troublesome patient as a nuisance and warn fellow doctors. I don't know...

For the first time, I've just had a literary editor want to make a couple of edits to one of my poems. It was a quick, short, easy email exchange with both of us accepting edits that the other mentioned: I agreed to the edit he wanted to make, changing my verb tense in the latter half of the sentence, because he felt it would be more active to have the background characters' behavior in the forefront, rather than in the background (like I'd originally written it), and he agreed to my edit of splitting the sentence with a period (and thanked me for mentioning it) because with his new, verb tense edits, the sentence he'd changed had been grammatically incorrect, but my new edit suggestion fixed it and made it correct.

At first, I felt a little nervous about correcting him, because he's a lot older than me, is an English professor at a university, a more experienced poet with published books, and has a couple of English degrees I don't have. But I knew that, with his edit that made my sentence grammatically incorrect, my name would be attached to it and would make it appear to others as though I'd written that incorrect sentence, myself, and don't know how to write, which I didn't want.

So, this just goes to show that, sometimes, even experienced professionals with English degrees sometimes make grammatical mistakes in their edits. Some may even thank you for catching something they didn't! The editor I've just written to was very respectful and pleasant, not annoyed or bothered by my edit in what he'd changed at all.

It's not bad or wrong to correct the mistakes they've made to your work because your name will be permanently attached to their edits, which will cause others who read your work to believe that you wrote it that way, yourself.

I'm still surprised to hear that your editor is trying to make several changes to your work, when they'd originally said they'd liked it; editors who've said they accepted and liked my short work have either left it alone and published it exactly as I'd sent it to them, or, like the editor I'd just mentioned earlier, only suggested changing a few verb tenses in the latter half of a sentence. Then, that was it.

I'm wondering whether withdrawing your work might be the best option for both of you, due to creative differences, since it sounds as though the editor wants to change your story completely into something that they like or want to write, themselves, that you don't feel represents you and the story you want to tell. Perhaps another editor out there would accept your work.

I hope this helps. I'm sorry to hear that you're going through this.
 
Last edited:

bluebug

Registered
Joined
May 29, 2016
Messages
17
Reaction score
1
Thank you for taking the time to chip in. Your language was absolutely on point! I withdrew my story. They insisted on changes that didn't make sense. I explained why and was attacked and ridiculed. I am never submitting to that publication again.
 

bluebug

Registered
Joined
May 29, 2016
Messages
17
Reaction score
1
Thank you for taking the time to reply. I wasn't worried about submitting to the same publication again -- I am never going to do that. I was worried about that editor making sure other editors refused my submissions down the line, like doctors sometimes will, and I'm very grateful to you for your reassuring words that I would have to have done something far more outrageous for that to happen. It was a horrible experience.
 

bluebug

Registered
Joined
May 29, 2016
Messages
17
Reaction score
1
I'm still surprised to hear that your editor is trying to make several changes to your work, when they'd originally said they'd liked it; editors who've said they accepted and liked my short work have either left it alone and published it exactly as I'd sent it to them, or, like the editor I'd just mentioned earlier, only suggested changing a few verb tenses in the latter half of a sentence. Then, that was it.

I'm wondering whether withdrawing your work might be the best option for both of you, due to creative differences, since it sounds as though the editor wants to change your story completely into something that they like or want to write, themselves, that you don't feel represents you and the story you want to tell. Perhaps another editor out there would accept your work.

I hope this helps. I'm sorry to hear that you're going through this.

I agree entirely, and this is what eventually happened. I pulled my story. It was not a good experience and I will definitely not be submitting to that publication again. Ever.

Thank you for taking the time to share your experience and advise me.
 

Maryn

Sees All
Staff member
Super Moderator
Moderator
Kind Benefactor
Super Member
Registered
Joined
Feb 12, 2005
Messages
55,320
Reaction score
25,288
Location
Snow Cave
Now that you are no longer involved with this publisher in any way, and don't intend to approach them again, I hope you'll share your experience, naming the publisher and either adding to their thread or starting on one them at Bewares, Recommendations, & Background Checks. Other authors can benefit from knowing your experiences there and make their own decisions.
 

WeaselFire

Benefactor Member
Kind Benefactor
Super Member
Registered
Joined
May 17, 2012
Messages
3,539
Reaction score
429
Location
Floral City, FL
FWIW, most of my editors in the last 15 years or so have used Word and Track Changes. In some cases there are spelling or grammar corrections they make, and I just approve. Errors that pass spell check for example, I type fire when it should be fair. The they're/their/there errors. Yes, I've been writing for ages and I still make these type of errors occasionally.

More often I get punctuation corrections, comma for the last item in a list is my worst offense. Using a comma where a person might pause in a sentence when grammatically it's incorrect is another personal flaw (comma before but is one I always screw up). These are almost always just adherence to a style guide but it's still done using Track Changes and I accept or reject the change.

In other cases I get suggestions like "I don't understand, is this Jim or John talking?" or "Seems like you covered this in the last chapter, why bring it up again?" These I need to rewrite, sometimes removing or adding parts as needed. And my favorite comment "This is a different story, either weave it in as a sub plot or remove it."

In every case, my return document to the editor also uses Track Changes so we have a record of what had changed. But, when all is said and done, it's me who accepts or rejects changes, even adding a comma or changing capitalization of a person's title.

Jeff
 

cornflake

practical experience, FTW
Super Member
Registered
Joined
Jul 11, 2012
Messages
16,171
Reaction score
3,734
Thank you for taking the time to chip in. Your language was absolutely on point! I withdrew my story. They insisted on changes that didn't make sense. I explained why and was attacked and ridiculed. I am never submitting to that publication again.

That's not ok, or normal, and other people will have or will have had similar experiences, so I wouldn't worry about it dinging your reputation. It doesn't sound like you did anything untoward, and it's not as if you signed a contract with the New Yorker then pulled the contracted a piece a day before they were going to print over some suggested minor change -- that'd be a move that'd get you talked about.

I wanted to mention the errors the editor seems to have inserted, if I understand correctly, though. Any editor worth his or her salt, whether they've been a copyeditor or proofer or not, should be only apologetic about having inserted an error. It certainly can happen, same as we can miss stuff, even after several passes, but it's embarrassing. I'd do nothing but thank someone who pointed out an error like that I'd made, and profusely apologize.