Normally I would just link to this (the Ethicist in the NYT) but it’s the second question in the column and I want this one to get all the attention.
I am an editor at a small publisher. We have worked for years on a book by a nonwriter. The subject is fascinating, the research solid, the information excellent, but the prose is incomprehensible. We’ve essentially created a book from his notes, although he still thinks he wrote it. I want to display his actual ability by running his author’s note and acknowledgments unedited, beyond correcting punctuation, spelling and grammar. My boss says we must do a professional job on the entire book. You? NAME WITHHELD
I’m with your boss. Having come this far in editing the work, don’t quit now. Your craft requires not just modesty and skill but also tolerance for frustration in the face of an author’s deranged egomaniacal certainty that you’ve done not much of anything. You chose to become an editor, and this vexation goes with the job. (Along with the tiny paycheck.)
There is an acceptable if not ideal alternative. Prepare two versions of the author’s note, one revised as fastidiously as the rest of the book, the other altered only along the lines you describe. Let your author choose the one he prefers: it is, after all, his book. Maybe he’ll walk into your little trap and select the version that proclaims his skills as a writer. And on the way home from the book party, he’ll be splashed with mud by a passing taxi. It could happen.
I’ve long thought that book editors should be explicitly credited. Many books name the font designer; nearly all list the person who took the cover photo; some mention the writer’s spouse. Why not the editor? Books should mimic movies, where room is found to credit not only the director, writer and stars but also the folks who did the catering, drove the trucks and provided the portable toilets.
