When An Editor...Isn't

I have worked quite diligently over the last three years, improving my skills as an editor and expanding my client base. Currently, I am working as a line editor for four separate publishers, and two of those have multiple imprints. I've been lucky enough to work with one of the top publishers in my chosen genre, and I've learned from them how the editing process *should* work...in a perfect world. To my dismay, it does not always work this way.

As I said, I work for four publishers. One demands perfection. Every book goes through 3 full edits, and a proof. Two are mid-level presses, and I am happy to work for them, I enjoy the editing process, and their authors and editors and quite good. Books with these presses get a full edit, and a proof.

The fourth press is...a conundrum. I applied with this press because they publish three authors and series' that I just love. I buy these books, and I am distressed every time I read one, because the mistakes are staggering. A character will say "Awe" while gazing at a child, or the hero has "taught" abs (really? What in the world has he trained them to do??!) -- mistakes so egregious that I can't keep my mind in the story.

What I've learned by becoming an editor for this press is that these standards are set at the top. The press that demands quality control  - no editor turns in any edit without every change having a source citation (change a spelling - you give a link to the Merriam-Webster online dictionary). With the weaker press, they just make up the rules as they go along, and call it "house style."

When their line editors ask question, answers are given...and no one ever cites a source. No Chicago Manual of Style, no Bartleby Strunk and White, just... I think this is how it is, so do it this way.

I suppose they wonder why they don't sell as many books as the larger press, and why authors aren't clamoring to get a place with them...as they are with the others. They certainly have several extremely popular series, and I know for a fact that editors at the other presses BUY these books and read them...and they are saddened by the poor editing.

So. Incredibly. Frustrating.