I received a hilarious e-mail from a friend whom I've been consulting during his process of writing his book and getting an agent and a publisher.
He has a great deal that includes a movie, a television series, and a bunch of money (like, hundreds of thousands of dollars), and this is is first book and he's not even a writer.
Here's the e-mail:
I received the editors edits yesterday. My book is now in a mostly unrecognizable form. What had been a low brow, puerile, jejune adventure in ******** is now a thoughtful, mature story of life passage.
I suppose this is normal, or is it?
Yes, in fact it is normal. And you can fight it if you want. You might even win a couple of battles. But the editor's job is to use your manuscript to create (recreate) the book that is the most marketable. A team of people (not including the editor, often) crafts the sometimes-new angle (or voice) of your book, and the editor's job, like the film editor's job, is to cut the product to fit the vision of the director (publisher).
Though many people would respond: How on earth can you complain about anything when you have a deal like that, imagine if there were things about your book that someone tinkered with. A lot of things. Things on every page.
I hope that someday you're in a position to even have the opportunity for such a problem.
