Does the editor-author relationship ever go wrong at Gryphon House?
We have nifty editor-author relationships; many of our authors are repeat authors and have been writing for us for years. But, having said that, we have occasionally had problems. From our point of view, these come about when an author doesn’t understand the publishing process and how a real-life business operates. An editor may be working on several books at once, and a first-time author may expect an immediate response to daily phone calls. Also, it takes time to move from manuscript to printed books in the store, but the new author assumes that once the manuscript is in, the book should emerge immediately. In addition to demands on the editor’s time, there are issues around advertising and publicity. If, on publication, the book is not as successful as the first-time author envisioned, he or she feels it’s the publisher’s fault. All of this is why one successful, mid-size trade publisher I know refuses to publish first-time authors. What’s the editor’s responsibility in the author-e
