# How Would You Handle This Situation?



## DB17 (Jan 23, 2015)

Hello, I'm a well-published music journalist and author. I recently hooked up with a new magazine for whom I have done several features. I am a very thorough self-editor. In other words, when the article leaves my computer, it has been edited with a fine tooth comb; everything is spelled correctly, sentence structure is right, punctuation and grammar is right, and the style is tight and to the point. In other words, I make sure everything is in good shape before the piece is sent.

My problem is, the editor/publisher goes over my work and makes changes, most of which are incorrect, such as removing or adding commas and apostrophes where they are not needed, making it look as if the mistakes were mine. In all honesty and without ego intended, I'm a better writer/editor than he is, but he's signing my checks, and although the pay isn't great, I can grow with him, as he publishes other magazines to which I will soon contribute. So far, we have a very good relationship. He likes me and what I bring to his table.

How should I handle this? I've never been faced with a situation such as this before. I want to tell him about his mistakes and how I feel, but I don't want to piss him off and endanger my positive relationship with him.

Any advice?


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## Morkonan (Jan 24, 2015)

DB17 said:


> ...How should I handle this? I've never been faced with a situation such as this before. I want to tell him about his mistakes and how I feel, but I don't want to piss him off and endanger my positive relationship with him.
> 
> Any advice?



Your name is on it.

At this point, it's not about personal relationships, it's strictly business. If your editor is making a hash of your work, you've got to act. Tomorrow, when your next employer asks you for your most recently published articles, you're going to have to hand them what was published...

There's only one way to do this and that's as tactfully as possible, using as much of your personal relationship as you can in order to create the benevolent atmosphere you will have to have in order to resolve the situation. I would choose to do this face-to-face, not through email or other correspondence. This deserves the personal touch. If that is difficult, make it "not difficult" if you truly value this relationship and position. As childish as it seems, I'd suggest you hunt through previous work to find a piece or two that they edited correctly or that they provided invaluable (or something that you can make appear as such) input or assistance with. Make sure to mention it when you meet with them and start explaining your dilemma.

And, if you have to pull that card, you'll have to tell them that this is "business" and it's not personal - These errors will effect your reputation and, if worse comes to worse, your ability to work in the future.


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## DB17 (Jan 24, 2015)

Thanks for ther advice. Unfortunately, he lives on the opposite side of the country, so we communicate by phone and email. You're right; my name is on it, and that's been my thought all along. People are reading my work and they'll think I made the mistakes. He's essentially a one-man operation. All his writers are contractors like myself, as is the guy who sells ads, etc. No one works in-house, in fact, he runs the magazines out of his home.

I think I'll be able to handle this, but it has to be planned on my part and done tactfully, which I can do. I always make sure that what he gets is error-free, and I will explain that to him. When I wrote for a major guitar magazine a few years ago, my editor told me he never had to change my work at all. It was clean on arrival.

Thanks again.


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## shadowwalker (Jan 24, 2015)

What are the terms and conditions of publishing with them? When you submit, is there a formal agreement to editorial changes without your prior approval? That's your only real recourse - the contract. If it's not mentioned, mention it. Get it in writing, literally. And yes, keep it professional, not personal.


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## dale (Jan 24, 2015)

it's happened to me a couple times. but i always had a chance to ok the edited version. 1 time i told them no. they didn't
publish the story after i said no, i wouldn't accept the edits. the 2nd time was on my novel. that one was my fault. the publisher
sent me the edited version for approval. i just approved it without reading it. then i got sent a copy and read it and was pretty damn
pissed. it appeared as if the editor simply ran most of it through a machine. like a computer editing program. so i was drunk
and i jumped his shit about it. i'm like..."i didn't even have these mistakes in my 1st draft." he simply said..."well, you approved it."
so what could i say?


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## DB17 (Jan 24, 2015)

The publisher in question and I do not have a contract, and honestly, I have never had a contract with any magazine for whom I've written over the years. When my book was published for the second time, I had a bulldog of a lawyer who went after the publisher without mercy. There were at least thirty typos in the initial printing of the book, and I wanted them fixed. The publisher balked, my lawyer struck, and I got the revisions done. 

On the first printing, the publisher (won't mention the name), gave me exactly 24 hours to read the gallies over and make corrections, which I did. After it was printed, none of the typos were fixed, and I was livid. So, on the second printing, at least I had the satisfaction of knowing they were fixed.


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## shadowwalker (Jan 24, 2015)

DB17 said:


> The publisher in question and I do not have a contract, and honestly, I have never had a contract with any magazine for whom I've written over the years.



Oh no - you have a contract. You may not have signed a piece of paper, but when you submitted your work and it was accepted and paid for, you had a contract. Which is why I said to look at the terms and conditions. If the editing issue is not addressed, you have no quarrel because the editor is under no obligation in that respect. If you want approval rights, you must state that, in writing (I believe emails are accepted, but don't quote me on that), and the editor must agree, also in writing.


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## Morkonan (Jan 26, 2015)

DB17 said:


> Thanks for ther advice. Unfortunately, he lives on the opposite side of the country, so we communicate by phone and email. ...



You're right - It will have to be planned and executed tactfully.

As a freelancer, you're basically selling him the article and he's allowed certain liberties as just a part of normal industry practice. Those liberties are not intended to allow him to screw up your work, though. (But, it's also standard to reveal edits before publication...) If you can't meet face-to-face, it might be worth trying to Skype a meeting. That way, you can get the benefit of some body language and a bit more expression. A smile can work wonders.

I can understand the difficulty with this situation, but the fact remains that it's your name that's on the article. Plus, he's not doing his publication any favors by editing it.... wrongly. It's one of those situations where you basically have to "one-up" the guy, stressing your experience and knowledge as being superior to his. That could be accepted well or not, it all depends on his personality. If it was me, I would stress the impact these introduced errors might have on the overall quality of his publication. I wouldn't tell him his shooting himself in the foot by acting as a bad editor... But, I would say that I was presenting my opinion on his edits from the standpoint of a contributor who wishes to protect the reputation of the publication, not just yourself. That sort of team-based attitude might help to get you to a more intimate and honest level with him.

Shadowwalker's stress on the contract is appropriate. That's why contracts exist. Contracts can be wonderful things in that they keep such awkward exchanges from happening in the first place. But, you don't have that luxury, here. It might be worth trying to set up a situation in which both you and he would feel that a contract would be a good thing. If you can make that fly, like saying you'll guarantee xx articles over xx time for an equitable exchange rate, you can take that opportunity to put in some standard approval/publishing clauses and the like. You'd likely have to make him comfy with the idea of a contract (AND, having to perform within one), though, and that's probably not something he's very comfortable with at this point.


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## DB17 (Jan 26, 2015)

Morkonan said:


> You're right - It will have to be planned and executed tactfully.
> 
> As a freelancer, you're basically selling him the article and he's allowed certain liberties as just a part of normal industry practice. Those liberties are not intended to allow him to screw up your work, though. (But, it's also standard to reveal edits before publication...) If you can't meet face-to-face, it might be worth trying to Skype a meeting. That way, you can get the benefit of some body language and a bit more expression. A smile can work wonders.
> 
> ...



Thank you for your good ideas and advice. I don't know this guy well enough to feel secure that he'll take this all in stride. All I have are assumptions at this point. I believe he's a rational human being, as he seems to be, and I know he's a practicing Born Again Christian who seems happy and well balanced in his life. All in all, it seems he's a decent sort, so I'm banking on that. I think emphasizing the team approach and noting that he's making the magazine look second class with his errors is a good way to go.

I wrote for another music magazine and had a fabulous relationship with the EIC. We'd just talk on the phone for long stretches of time about music and instruments, strictly social, not business. Then, he quit over some underhanded stuff the magazine pulled on him, and that was that. I would have felt totally comfortable discussing this issue with him, but it wasn't necessary. He told me I was the only freelancer he had whose work was ready to go upon delivery. I was proud of that.


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## TIG (Jan 28, 2015)

Is the work commissioned, or do you submit on spec?

If it's commissioned then technically you have no say. Take the money and thank him for it.

If you submit on spec, then any magazine I've ever worked with always states it retains the right to edit work as it sees fit. I work with plenty of editors and I think all of them would stop using a writer if he pulled them up on what they're doing, even if they were nice about the issue at the time. Life is too short and deadlines too frequent...

I think you've got to choose between the moral high ground and the money. I'd take the money, because moral highgrounds don't buy much beer around here!


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## Morkonan (Jan 30, 2015)

Thanks to a link posted by Gargh in an unrelated thread, I found this article that addresses the subject of edits: http://contently.net/2015/01/21/ask...cer-can-editor-change-piece-without-approval/

There's some good advice in there, too.


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## TIG (Jan 30, 2015)

Morkonan said:


> Thanks to a link posted by Gargh in an unrelated thread, I found this article that addresses the subject of edits: http://contently.net/2015/01/21/ask...cer-can-editor-change-piece-without-approval/
> 
> There's some good advice in there, too.


That's pretty much on the money from my experience. A good and simple guide to commonsense!


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## Morkonan (Jan 30, 2015)

TIG said:


> That's pretty much on the money from my experience. A good and simple guide to commonsense!



I wish common sense was more common... Then, I'd find it less expensive to gain.


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## DB17 (Feb 8, 2015)

An update: I submitted another article yesterday, and mentioned in my email to the publisher that the piece was stringently edited, corrected and ready for publication. For now, I think that's the best way to handle this situation; let him know that I have done everything I could to ensure correctness all around.

It remains to be seen how the article will appear on paper, of course. I'll cross that bridge when I come to it.


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## Pluralized (Feb 8, 2015)

What a bizarre situation. If that's a recurring problem, and he's truly making the editing _worse_, it surprises me that he's running 'several' magazines successfully. Seems like good editing should speak for itself, and making the statement 'I've edited this very carefully' would put you at risk for major embarrassment if you let a rogue error through. 

Probably goes without saying, find more places to submit your articles so you aren't so dependent upon this guy/zine.


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## DB17 (Feb 10, 2015)

First, this isn't the only magazine I write for. I really edit my work brutally, run spellcheck, etc, although I'm an excellent speller anyway. The piece I sent him was flawless. I've been doing this for over forty years, so it's not my first trip to the rodeo as they say, but we'll see how it plays out.

I sent him another feature article before, and it too was stringently edited. I repeated the same mantra that it was carefully edited and ready to go, so I'm hoping he gets the picture.

Yes, he publishes three magazines, and if you read them through them with a fine tooth comb, you can find little errors. This is not uncommon in magazine publishing, I have found. A prominent guitar magazine for whom I have written for in the past, is constantly running _mea culpa _notices every issue to atone for mistakes made in the previous issue.


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