Like B.L. Robinson and others, I was booted from the PAMB because I questioned their editing, or lack thereof. Actually, if you read the PA contract closely you will see that editing by PA is implied, but not actually required.
Para 13, starts "The Publisher shall furnish the Author with an electronic page proof of the work which conforms to the complete manuscript as submitted by the Author. The Author agrees to return such proof to the Publisher with his (grammar and/or spelling and/or "typo" and/or non-substantial editing) corrections within fifteen (15) days of the receipt thereof by him.
Note: You see that PA will furnish the author with a proof that "conforms" to the complete manuscript submitted by the author. What does "non-substantial editing" meaning? Here is a case where editing is implied; however, it is the author that actually does the editing.
Para 14.(A) If, in the Publisher's opinion, the manuscript of the said literary work requires substantial editing, the Publisher agrees to provide such editorial service without cost or expense to the Author. It is specifically understood and agreed, however, that the Publisher shall make no major revisions, changes and/or alterations therein without first consulting the Author and receiving written permission to do so.
Note: Editing is again implied, but notice the big "however" in the second sentence. I doubt few, if any, authors were ever asked to give PA written permission to make "changes and/or alterations." This is where a lot of PA authors are confused, because they know they submitted a MS with some "major" problems, particularly grammar. When PA did not make those changes and went forward anyway, the author didn't know what to do, and PA was not about to help them figure it out. One lady received her two copies and was so embarrassed by the lack of editing that she stated on the PAMB that she had instructed her friends, etc., not to buy it, and she planned not to sell a copy.
The lack of quality control by PA is the least understood practice by the author. Every author writes the best they can and they have the right to expect a publisher to have as much interest in their work as they do, but PA does not print books to sell to the public in general, as has been stated on this board many times. PA sells to the author and to the author's list of "family and friends." PA could care less if the author's book ever saw the inside of a bookstore. That is simply not their business model, but again, implications by the Publisher leads authors to think otherwise.
I saw several cases, where authors on the PAMB stated that their page proof (the one that is returned with the proof corrections) had excessive errors, but PA would not correct them. The authors were willing to let them go, because I suspect their fear of the second half of PARA 13: "The cost of alterations in the page proof required by the Author, other than corrections of Publisher's errors, in excess of fifteen (15%) percent of the original cost of composition, shall be charged against the earning of the Author under this agreement; provided also, however, that the Publisher shall promptly furnish to the Author an itemized statement of such additional expenses, and shall make available at the Publisher's office the corrected proof for inspection by the Author or his representatives."
Note: You see the new author's delemma here? Just what exactly is 15 percent of the original cost of composition? And who wants to go to the Publisher's office to check an itemized statement? This is one of those unethical BS provisions.
There is absolutely nothing in my contract that states PA will perform "line-by-line" editing. However, "line-by-line" editing is often implied in documentation, message board responses, etc., outside the contract.
In my case, (from the PAMB) I had already begun to suspect that PA did not conduct "line editing," when I sent in my MS, and I deliberately entered some mistakes and marked them, so that I could go back and make the corrections when I received my proofs. Mistakes such as: to/too, quiet/quite, there/their, not capitalizing the first word in a sentence, periods left off at the end of the sentence, etc. Easy things to correct. None were corrected.
I was not bothered very much by the failure to edit my work, because I edited it myself twelve or thirteen times. I knew there would grammatical and punctuation errors, but I was hoping they would be few and I could live with them, and I have.
The contract is vaguely worded (I almost said cleverly) and it makes implications, which a contract should not do. It is not so much a matter of legality, but of ethics. It is unethical for PA to lead authors to believe that their MS will be edited. Most PA authors are inexperienced, and they have sent PA their first work. They naively believe that PA wants to help them be the best that they can be, and when they read announcements that PA is hiring more editors, they automatically think that someone will actually be assigned to them to read their work line-by-line and work with them to turn their book into a best seller.
Some authors on the PAMB have stated that they were helped by such and such editor, and I believe that, but I also believe in most of those cases, where there was actual consultation (voice or e-mail) between PA editor and author, the work was so bad that PA was merely in the act of salvaging another MS to print. And I also suspect that in the general scheme of things, that new people coming on board at PA probably at first want to do a good job for the author, and they might actually help, but overtime in the pressure of the rush to print books, quality editing and even running the "grammar and spell-checker" falls by the wayside. My statement on the PAMB was that my book was not edited by any stretch of the imagination, and I stand by that.
:Cheers: 
:Cheers: 
