Some editors we love. Some editors we love to hate.
The latest example is Entrepreneur Magazine Editor in Chief Amy Cosper, whom recently fired staff writer Dennis Romero excoriated in a 4,000-plus word diatribe published on his blog earlier this week. Among other things, Romero accuses Cosper of practicing such a hands-off editorial style she barely made assignments, read copy or kept tabs on what her staff was doing. “She didn’t give us deadlines! Ever!” Romero writes – frankly, I know some freelancers who wouldn’t mind the no deadlines part.
Romero’s plight reminds me of other editors we love to hate.
Devil Wears Prada – Lauren Weisberger’s roman a clef was a chick-lit bon bon before taking off on the silver screen, with Ann Hathaway playing editorial assistant Andrea working in indentured servitude to Meryl Streep’s witchy Miranda Priestly, a chic stand in for Vogue EIC Anna Wintour.
“And-re-ah,” she called from her starkly furnished, deliberately cold office. “Where are the car and the puppy?”
I leaped out of my seat and ran as fast as was possible on plush carpeting while wearing five-inch heels and stood before her desk. “I left the car with the garage attendant and Madelaine with your doorman, Miranda,” I said, proud to have completed both tasks without killing the car, the dog, or myself.
“And why would you do something like that?” she snarled, looking up from her copy of Women’s Wear Daily for the first time since I’d walked in. “I specifically requested that you bring both of them to the office, since the girls will be here momentarily and we need to leave.”
“Oh, well, actually, I thought you said that you wanted them to–”
“Enough. The details of your incompetence interest me very little. Go get the car and the puppy and bring them here. I’m expecting we’ll be all ready to leave in fifteen minutes. Understood?”
WriteSideOut blogger Bonnie Boot celebrates’ writers’ love-hate relationships with editors in her Editors are Evil Writing Contest. An excerpt from Charlotte Bennardo’s winning entry:
Dear Editor,
I have your cat.
What, no contract?
To Chow Yung Fat,
I take your cat.
Oh, change your mind?
Your cat you’ll find
Once contract signed,
and deal we bind.
Refuse to deal?
A tasty meal
Cat’s fate you’ll seal
I swear, for real.
Mother Jones’ Kevin Drum recently reminded readers in post called From the Annals of Bad Editors that Flowers for Algernon writer Daniel Keyes went through editors at six publishers before finding one that didn’t want to change the ending of his novel so Charlie stays smart and lives happily ever after.
Earlier this year, Colorado writer Dan Baum used Twitter to write about his love-hate relationship with The New Yorker and Editor David Remnick, though in all honesty, that seemed to be more of a personality mismatch and confluence of unfortunately circumstances than an out and out evil editor situation.
Of course, some editors we love because they’re so good – and you know who you are. They’re the ones we go out of our way to pitch to, turn assignments in early for and pray will turn into steady clients.
Got your own evil editor stories? Do share.
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I once had an editor let a source, a govt bureaucrat, rewrite the story, but left my byline on it.
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