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Writer's pictureEmily Denny

Trust

Many years ago, I was online friends with someone who wanted to be a writer and an editor. All of their blog posts (this was back in the LiveJournal days) were focused around this goal. This person worked really hard, practiced their craft, and wrote two novels. They also edited a ton of novels for small imprints, mostly digital stuff, and shared their journey online. Often, it was a struggle. It was hard work, hard to get work, and my friend worked really hard against obstacles to try and find their way.


I remember two things from this friendship (with regards to writing and publishing).


The first is, I think they really killed some of my drive to be a writer myself.


I was a huge writer in high school and into college (when this friendship was taking place). I wrote all the time, online and offline. And to watch this person, who was also a writer, struggle really hard, made me scared of the industry.


It also made me scared to see how they talked about other authors, both their editing clients and their compatriots, behind their backs. It wasn't just that people were being unkind to my friend. My friend had a lot of unkind things to say back. That's one of the reasons I quit the friendship, was it was hard to see that, even though I knew they were just writing in their private online venting space. Would people talk about me like that? Could I trust other writers? I quit the friendship because it was damaging to me to see that happening. I also felt like I had no input or anything to contribute to the conversation. I wasn't in the world, in the industry. My perspective didn't matter.


The other takeaway, the big one that I still think about to this day, was about a book they edited. I went to check it out on Amazon, to read the free preview and offer my thoughts. It was important to my friend to get good reviews, and they were proud of their author and of their work.


I'll never forget it. The book opened with a lady who worked in... a bookstore, or similar, and who had a piece of jewelry with her favorite Jane Austen quote engraved on it. It was so very meaningful to her. It was clearly set up that this (her love of books, Austen romances, etc) was going to be somehow central to her motivations and interactions with the sexy male lead.


The quote was when Darcy says "I love you, I love you, I love you".


I closed my browser window, then opened it again to make sure I had it right.

That quote is from the movie. That quote is NOWHERE in the novel. Insult to injury, it's the 2005 Keira Knightly version (it's good, but 1995 is better and takes fewer liberties with the text, end of).


I sent a message to my friend. I remember feeling queasy and weird writing that message. How was it possible that my friend didn't know this. Maybe I shouldn't make assumptions about who has read classic literature.... but it's Pride and Prejudice for crying out loud. And the book had already been published, so how could my critique make a difference... but I had to say it. The integrity of my friend's editing was at stake.


They knew, they wrote back. They knew it was wrong. They told the author she was wrong, but she wouldn't have it. And really, was that detail so important? The main part of the book -- the story with the mother, and the cancer, and the heartfelt and human stuff that happened, it was really good and moving, and it was still such a good book. I should read it anyway.


None of that stuff mattered though. Not to me. It didn't matter what my friend said in praise, I was never going to read the book, not coming off of that hideous error. For one, it meant that the character was a certified moron. For two, it meant that the author was a certified moron. Why would I want to waste my time reading about a fool, as written by a fool? All the good qualities of the book would remain undiscovered, because I couldn't trust the author to be any damn good after that gross error.


I've wondered, since then, if my friend did the right thing. Because, they knew the truth. They told her to fix it, and in the face of facts and evidence, she chose to leave it in as wrong. I'm sure my friend got shouted at. Threatened to be replaced. Told they were stupid and wrong. They probably just had to let that error slide in the name of getting the whole book out.


Should my friend have stuck to their guns? Because now their name is on this book as the editor, a book with a mistake. Part of their job was to catch things like that. So having your name on a book like that says that you can't do part of your job. Even if the plot is tight and the characters are fleshed out and real and the dialogue flows. You still messed up.


But part of it is making it in an industry. In small publishing, my friend was already busting their butt to succeed. If they told this author to take a hike, they could damage their reputation and their chances of future work.


This all made me question my friend, even though I knew they were probably stuck between a rock and a hard place. It made me question the publishing industry and the clique-like imprints even more.


Listen to your editors, kids.


A reader's trust must be kept.


Same for users, consumers of art, anything where it is imperative to the work that they user make it to the end. If you can't keep our trust, we'll quit before we see your point. And then, what's the point?

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