FUCK EDITORS

aaarrrggghhh

I am really REALLY sensitive / suspicious about the idea of editors adding stuff you didn't write ...

― nabisco, Wednesday, February 28, 2007 2:08 PM (1 year ago) Bookmark

Always think this thread is gonne be about the band.

is this the thread where we welcome nabisco to the uk newspaper industry then?

this is the thread where I resign from the UK newspaper industry in protest

I would like to note that I have lots of sensitive feelings, as well as episodes of suspicion, regarding this concept: that some editors may be adding extra words or even information to articles that I have written and submitted. I worry that they could add typografical errors or grammatical awkwardness that could reflect poorly upon me, or even add information that goes against my personal beliefs. More later, as I'm off to my NAMBLA meeting now.

loooooooooooooooool

hey, 'bisco. take a deep breath, look at the big picture, you'll be fine.

^^ good advice, totally true, and it only took a cup of coffee to get over it, but yeah, this thread deserves bumping now and again -- it can be frustrating!

nabisco, that's happened to me more than a few times over the years! at a certain point i just turned off the "care" switch, i guess.

this thread = eternally classic, mostly for ethan's bile.

the best solution is probably to write more, and invest less in each piece (not work-wise, but pride-wise/emotionally)

You don't want your words dumbed down into irrelevancy, stick to your blog imo.

thread was started about a bonecrusher review btw

ethan, do you still write for that paper?

i have no idea what i was talking about upthread, i dont think id ever been published at that point

my advice: never read the garbage they print. it is always fucked up in some way. get someone else to make your cuttings.

my advice: man up

FUCK AD REPS

this thread deserves bumping now and again -- it can be frustrating!

― nabisco, Friday, February 27, 2009 8:54 AM (5 years ago)

Preach.

"Every reporter is a hope, and every editor is a disappointment."
— Joseph Pulitzer

I get the progression in that, but it should nevertheless be "Every reporter is a disappointment, and every editor is still a disappointment."

Help: I write for a half-dozen publications around the country, mostly for fun and to write about bands I like. The money is a small but nice bonus.

The biggest (by far) and (consensus, I think) best of these publications butchers my stories regularly. I write 400-800 word articles for them a couple times per month. Pretty much every time, they (and I say they bc I don't think it's just the editor I work with, I think there are people down the line from him) make sloppy edits, insert grammar/punctuation errors, and generally make the copy a choppier read than what I turned in. (I realize that's a judgment call, but in this case, my judgment is right.)

I'm not some diva who can't handle changes to my precious word choices. Far from it. I'm happy to be edited, have been for years. But this is driving my crazy.

I've written a 15 articles for this place and when I flip through them to try to choose one to use as a clip, I have trouble finding one I'm happy with!

Again, biggest/best outlet I have. I don't want to lose it. But I'm also not going to ask the editor why they keep butchering my stories.

So ... I just grit my teeth and live with it? Any other clever ideas?

If nothing else, thanks for listening, pixel-buds.

This is very frustrating. Could you not use the OG draft as a clipping?

I don't know? If I'm pitching a story to a new place that doesn't know me and I send 'em, like, a word document with my original, I guess I don't know what that communicates. Seems weird / red flag-y to me. Seems like published anything would >>>> draft.doc in the eyes of an editor unfamiliar with me/my work. And there's no way any editor out there cares about any explanation I'd send along.

Maybe I'm wrong.

I have plenty of published clips from other places that I'm happy with. I'd just like to get something usable from this place, obviously. There are a few that are close enough, I guess. (Needless to say, tonight I checked out my newest story and it is a mess, thus the venting.)

Could you not put up all your writing on your website/blog (with links to the published pieces)? So you send new places the link to the piece as you want it edited, but they can also see it's been published elsewhere.