I know what you mean, although it's definitely not a rule as books for grownups can be as much underdeveloped as the books for the juvenile. At least the latter can be explained by the target, the first ones are just lazy writers.

Oh, yeah, there is plenty of those. And it's annoying as hell.

Actually I've got the feeling that now I read more underdeveloped books than ever.
You can get to read many indie books from unknow writers, which is something I enjoy doing, but thruth is many of them haven't gone thru the hands of an editor - and it's just too obvious

Ohmygod that's the worst... I hate when self-publishers don't do their homework about the publishing processes... I'm an editor/proofreader now, so I know Writers often go for self-pub because they want to avoid an editor changing too much in their book but that's a stereotype...

I don't know much about the relation between writer and editor, but I have always assumed that the editor suggested changes - not enforced them.
And I'm not sure how big those changes can be either.

Tbh I thought people self-published because it was easy. Not having to go thru the whole publishing system, which is kind of slow.
Or because they were rejected. Which they should take as a hint anyway.


You have such a cool job, mem!

Yes, a good editor suggests changes, but authors can take those suggestions personally. Often young writers (and by young I don't mean age at all) think they know better and that their writing doesn't need any changes and that it's perfect as it is. Which is the biggest bull, of course.
Self-publishing isn't easy at all, at least if you're doing it right. I would argue it's more difficult than just going to a publisher.

Well, I'm just starting out, but I know I made the right choice for myself, 'cause I love doing it. Hopefully this idea takes and I'm gonna make some money at last

I don't know much about the publishing circuit anyway.
My husband recently published two books, but they were non-fiction so the suggestions were mostly the choice of some words. "Say this instead of that." Nothing that feels like a big change.

Ah! And typos! He could not believe how many typos there were!
He is a careful person when it comes to writing, but after several revisions (the book passed thru different editors, plus her parents and myself who read it before) there were still some typos!




That's great, mem!
Finding a career that fulfills you makes all the difference.

And that's freelance work or do you have any kind of contract?

Wow, two books, congrats to him!
It all depends on the author, if your husband tries to stay clean of any errors then the editors had little to do.
Yeah, typos are always gonna be there. Unfortunately you can't avoid all the errors, some tiny things like typos will stay and would probably corrected in re-printing. No matter how many people read through a book, there's always an error everybody will miss.

I just finished my internship recently, so for now I'm gonna try freelancing to see if I can get any deals at all. I'd like to be my own boss etc., but if I can get more experience on a contract and they will accept me, I'm all in. I should send out my applications, tbh

It's kinda funny, because it took him many years to write them.
It's scientific divulgation, so he was writing a little part whenever something felt right and only decided put it together quite recently.
He send them to different publishing companies last year, because each of them has a different approach and would fit better in a different collection.
But they ended being published within two months! Looks as if he were a prolific author


Sounds like a great plan.
I would assume a contract would mean more stability, while freelancing more flexibility?

No wonder it took him years, he was very thorough with what he puts in them Good that he even decided to put it all together and publish it. Most people don't have enough courage to do that.
Two months is insanely fast! But Iassume the whole process is shorter when it's a scientific topic and the author wrote his books well.

Exactly. I don't really want to be tied down to a certain company, goto an office and stuff. I really want to work from home. Some companies offer b2b and work from home while others rather have a contract and a person on site. Freelancing might be more difficult to manage but for nowI believe it's better for me.
That is, unless I get accepted to any publisher for a remote job then I might change my mind if it turns out to be a good workplace. Idk at this point, I'm terrified and petrified either way

Well, he sent them to those publishing companies last year.
They have those science divulgation collections and I think they don't get many books on maths, so they were quite interested.
The first one went thru several style editors (it's funny to see how they made completely different suggestions) but left the maths to him, so it was all quite fast. My husband read his own book four or five times in a month
It got published on January.

The other one was slower. The company has an science editor which suggested to change some minor details. Nothing big though.
They planned to publish late this year, but apparently they had a problem with the book they were planning to release earlier in the collection (they detected plagiarism!) and decided to move this one up. So everything was very very fast.
It got published on March.



I had no idea proofreaders ever worked on site.
Editors would make more sense. Or at least the head of the editors.
But if you need to read stuff I would rather do it quietly at home than in a noisy office.