Friday, November 6, 2009

Paula poses a question

Paula Hubbs Cohen would like to ask the group for advice:

"What do you say to a publisher who asks you to edit a magazine, and after you find a ton of grammatical/punctuation errors, etc. in articles submitted by other writers/advertisers, tells you to only point out the “BIG” errors? I’m really flummoxed by this, because what a “BIG” error is to one person is not-so-big to another... Yes, there is a difference between an errant comma deep inside an article and a snarling typo/misspelled name on the cover, but if you find them both, why not fix them both?? What do others suggest one should say to a request like that? (and they defined a “BIG” error as something like a paragraph missing or something like that...)"

Hmm, sounds like the publisher doesn't want to pay for your time correcting "picky" details like spelling errors, etc. I'd have a reasonable chat with him or her and explain how even small errors can erode readers' confidence in the product and make advertisers look like morons. If the publisher doesn't care, and still doesn't want to shell out, you have a few options:

1. Decide you can live with the publisher's request;
2. Work out a deal where you can make corrections at what he or she deems a reasonable fee; or
3. Give up the job.

Everyone, please use the comments field to reply. Thanks!

3 comments:

Christine K. Bailey said...

Consider telling your client you fix “little” errors free of charge. If you're charging an hourly fee, think about a “per project” fee instead. I've done this with my corporate clients. This way I can maintain the integrity of the project and they don't feel I'm nickel and diming them for things they don't think are important, but I do.

Debra Krol said...

Yeah, I agree with Christine, I recently had to review some pieces copyedited by a "guest" editor [the normal one was on sick leave] for the Day Job. It was full of all sorts of flubs that any decent editor would have caught. I would figure out a way to get around the client's not wanting to fix all the errors too...It's your reputation at stake here.

Paula Hubbs Cohen said...

Just to let you know how this turned out, I told the publisher to please take my name off the masthead as a "contributing editor" - that, in all honesty, I would be professionally embarrassed to be listed as an editor when I was not really allowed to edit the articles. He was very apologetic and said there was some miscommunication and we are working on a new procedure for next month to avoid this situation. And thank goodness, he was not at all offended by my comments which I couched as honestly, yet constructively, as I possibly could... :) Thanks for your comments!

Paula