Get Thee to an Editor

Technology has been the great equalizer for writers: thanks to tablets, e-books, and online self-publishing, all aspiring writers can access a large audience, not just the writers who make it into the consciousness of a major publishing house.  It goes without saying that this is a blessing to many writers, and that it reflects the values of a democratic, capitalistic society.  But what of the curse of the new world of publishing?  What's happening to editorial review?

I can't deny I have a professional bias: of course I think editing is important.  It's my job.  Since I have a conflict of interest, I will recuse myself from arguing for the necessity of the editor in the authorial process.  I'll let speak a far more capable champion of the editor.  Salman Rushdie:

"...In house after house, good editors have been fired or not replaced, and an obsession with turnover has replaced the ability to distinguish good from bad. Let the market decide, too many publishers think... What we need, however, is a return to the best kind of editorial ruthlessness.  We need a return to judgment."

Maxwell Perkins, Editor Extraordinaire

Salman Rushdie wrote this even before the current boom of online publishing; if it was true in a pre-Create Space world, how much truer it is now.  That the editor is now an endangered species is obviously problematic for the editor himself; it's no less detrimental for the reader and the writer.

Without "editorial ruthlessness" to vet and improve material, readers are inundated with writing -- some good, some bad, and much that could have been better under the eye of an editor.  It's dismally overwhelming to navigate through thousands of unknown texts: writers, writers everywhere, but not a lot to read.

Meanwhile, the writer suffers from the loss of his unbiased judge and advisor. It's a loss felt no matter how talented the writer -- even Fitzgerald needed a Maxwell Perkins.

The fiction writer gets to play god in his work: He giveth characters life and can taketh away, too.  So, if you're writing, be a benevolent god.  Get an editor to do justice to your work.

- Kate Zavack