When an Editor Stabbed Me in the Back

(a publishing story)

I was thrilled to sign with Publisher X for one of my books because the advance was the biggest I’d ever gotten and the editor and editor-in-chief were both very high on the book. They even promised a book tour.

Things started to go south when I saw the book cover: it was hideous. I’d already published half a dozen books and was a book reviewer too and I said “This is not a selling cover.” If I say more, it’ll reveal which book and which publisher, but believe me, the cover was ugly.

I was dismissed as if I had never had anything to do with publishing before and lectured too: “We had an outside firm do it and they’re very good and have a great reputation.” As a sop. I suppose, they did show me alternatives which were even worse.

I was at a loss and my agent couldn’t budge them on the cover.

The editor asked me about blurbs and when I suggested a world-famous author who lived in the US, the editor thought it was a brilliant idea and said “I know how to reach her! This will happen!”

Not that long afterwards, this same editor was bragging to me about a major acquisition and added the killer: “Guess who’s going to blurb it!?”

He and the publisher had apparently decided to snag “my” blurber for a book that the publisher was investing more money in. A lot more.

I blurted, “But that was who I suggested for my book.”

The editor claimed not to remember any such discussion and got off the phone very quickly.

Of course, blurbs can’t guarantee a book will sell, but they do get the attention of readers—and of reviewers like me—and I was both angry and crushed. How could the editor shaft me like that and then dismiss my complaint?

I shared this with a writer friend who wisely noted, “The only thing worse than not being published is being published. It opens you up to a vast new set of disappointments.”

Big surprise: the publisher never came through with the book tour and tried to gull me into thinking that mailing postcards was a terrific way to get the book out there. They thought I could be fooled. I wasn’t.

However, this experience was a major exception in my career and I'm grateful to all the editors whose honesty and experience has helped make me a better writer, a better teacher of creative writing, and ultimately an editor myself since 2017 at writewithoutborders.com.

—Image by Tumisu from Pixabay