In this decade, the work force of book publishing professionals
in New York, who are largely editors, had decreased by 16 percent,
to 2,714 from 3,218, according to data from the Federal Equal
Employment Opportunity Commission. But at the same time,
the number of books published in the United States has surged.
Just since 1991, the increase in new titles published annually
is 42%, while the decrease in the number of editors in publishing
houses is 11%. The result is that with publishing cycles
compressed, leaving less time for editing, and with editors
distracted by corporate duties other than editing, there is
a decline in editing standards and in individual editorial
attention to writers and their books. In the ongoing
consolidation of trade publishing houses, in-house editing
has become something of a luxury.
Consequently, authors are turning to outside editors to help
with manuscripts before submitting them to publishers and to
help guide the work through successful revisions in the publishing
process.
