Words from a book editor working for a small publishing house that is part of a big media group …
The part of the job that makes me happy, as you can imagine, is working on the books. Coming up with the concept, talking to authors, agents, artists, designers, etc. …
The hellish part of the job is the people you work with. Which reminds me of another reason why people become editors: because they like books, not people. A lot of people in publishing are just weird. If they didn’t have a job, they might be shut-ins. Unfortunately, you have to work with them.
There are clueless managers, egomaniacal marketing people, and bitter, underpaid passive-aggressive editors.
It’s a no-win situation …
“Half the time you feel bad for the people in-house because of the demands of a screaming author. The other half of the time you feel bad for the author because of the incompetent handling of his or her book in-house. Eventually, the nightmare that is a book is published and makes its way to the remainder pile.”
Photo by Jan Mellström on Unsplash