See, what had happened was, I accepted a job to edit/proofread portions of a book. The subject matter, of which I was completely unaware during the invitation and interview phase, turned out to be full of wild assertions and hate speech directed at several racial and religious groups.
Oh.
Well, by that time, I was already under contract and wanted to be professional—after all, this is the Land of the Free-to-Say-Anything-You-Want-No-Matter-How-Inflammatory-and-Ignorant-It-Is. So I corrected the writing mistakes to the best of my ability and sent it back, hoping to be done with it. And darned if he didn't write back, trying to get me to do the rest of it.
Doh!
The next portion he sent me to edit was really what pushed it over the top. I can accept that some people may have skewed, uneducated, and narrow-minded perceptions of certain things, no matter how much those perceptions may turn my stomach. What stopped me cold was the part where he singled out one of the richest, most powerful men in the world, his wife, and their very large charitable organization. He associated them with facts that were blatantly false, and then accused them of using said charitable organization to commit deliberate and premeditated murder against a certain ethnic group.
Double doh!
I checked with my handy dandy Dictionary.com, and sure enough, this is what I found:
li·bel
[lahy-buh
l] Show IPA noun, verb, li·beled, li·bel·ingor ( especially British ) li·belled, li·bel·ling.
noun
1.
Law.
a.
defamation by written or printed words, pictures, or in any form other than by spoken words or gestures.
b.
the act or crime of publishing it.
c.
a formal written declaration or statement, as one containing the allegations of a plaintiff or the grounds of acharge.
2.
Well, crap. I want NOTHING to do with this.
As an editor, my job is to make sure that things are correct, which includes fact-checking. I believe that I have a responsibility to ask questions and make recommendations. But from a legal standpoint, how responsible am I for the substance of what is published, if it is my ultimate job to ensure that a manuscript is publishable?
That is the question that nobody seems to be able to answer with any firm sources of reference, although I have gotten many wonderful, sensible opinions on the matter.
Having carefully considered what everyone has had to say, this is my theory: I think that, as a freelance editor when the author is planning to self-publish, I can make corrections and suggestions and recommendations till the cows come home, but it is the author who has the final say on what is published. This should absolve me from any legal culpability. It may be different if I were working for a publishing house, since the the publisher trumps the author there, but since that's not the case, I think I'm good.
After arriving at this conclusion, I felt remotely better, but was still stuck on how to walk away from this contract and not look back. I genuinely agonized over this for several days - I knew it was absolutely the right thing to do, but I was afraid that ending the contract would invite a backlash that would have a negative effect on my client feedback score and thereby affect my ability to get hired in the future. I wanted to find a gracious, professional, non-confrontational way of extracting myself from this pickle without compromising my integrity.
Then, FINALLY, someone told me about the loophole for contractors who want to get out of a contract and skip the messy issue of bad feedback: Refund all the money!! Fortunately, he hadn't paid me all that much, but really, any amount would have been worth it. So, the end of this little saga has me ending the contract with a short note: "I'm sorry, but I am unable to continue editing your manuscript. Here is a full refund. Good luck." I haven't heard from him since, and I'm sleeping much better at night (when I do get to sleep at night, but that's a different story - please see my previous post reference to Zombies...).
Moral of the story: It's a good practice to ask questions up front to know what you're getting into—just in case, and there's always a "best" way out of a situation, if you look hard enough. Yep, lesson learned!
Jane's Writing Tip of the Day:
I think I could probably write an entire book about punctuation. I know others have, but apparently there are countless people out there who have missed them all. Today, I'm peeved about comma use. I see a lot of people who use them WAY too much, and some people who seem to have never heard of them. This is what you need to know: Commas are very much like chocolate. Not only do they both start with the letter "C" (I have preschoolers, so I notice these things), but they also 1) have a definite place in life, 2) can be over-indulged, and 3) when used correctly, can make things so much easier to process.
And finally, a big thank you to Daryl Hall and John Oates for the title of today's post. Who couldn't use a little Hall & Oates to brighten their day? :) Enjoy!
I Can't Go For That (No Can Do) - Daryl Hall & John Oates
# of Proofreads: 19
# of Edits: 38
anything that is defamatory or that maliciously or damagingly misrepresents.
As an editor, my job is to make sure that things are correct, which includes fact-checking. I believe that I have a responsibility to ask questions and make recommendations. But from a legal standpoint, how responsible am I for the substance of what is published, if it is my ultimate job to ensure that a manuscript is publishable?
That is the question that nobody seems to be able to answer with any firm sources of reference, although I have gotten many wonderful, sensible opinions on the matter.
Having carefully considered what everyone has had to say, this is my theory: I think that, as a freelance editor when the author is planning to self-publish, I can make corrections and suggestions and recommendations till the cows come home, but it is the author who has the final say on what is published. This should absolve me from any legal culpability. It may be different if I were working for a publishing house, since the the publisher trumps the author there, but since that's not the case, I think I'm good.
After arriving at this conclusion, I felt remotely better, but was still stuck on how to walk away from this contract and not look back. I genuinely agonized over this for several days - I knew it was absolutely the right thing to do, but I was afraid that ending the contract would invite a backlash that would have a negative effect on my client feedback score and thereby affect my ability to get hired in the future. I wanted to find a gracious, professional, non-confrontational way of extracting myself from this pickle without compromising my integrity.
Then, FINALLY, someone told me about the loophole for contractors who want to get out of a contract and skip the messy issue of bad feedback: Refund all the money!! Fortunately, he hadn't paid me all that much, but really, any amount would have been worth it. So, the end of this little saga has me ending the contract with a short note: "I'm sorry, but I am unable to continue editing your manuscript. Here is a full refund. Good luck." I haven't heard from him since, and I'm sleeping much better at night (when I do get to sleep at night, but that's a different story - please see my previous post reference to Zombies...).
Moral of the story: It's a good practice to ask questions up front to know what you're getting into—just in case, and there's always a "best" way out of a situation, if you look hard enough. Yep, lesson learned!
Jane's Writing Tip of the Day:
I think I could probably write an entire book about punctuation. I know others have, but apparently there are countless people out there who have missed them all. Today, I'm peeved about comma use. I see a lot of people who use them WAY too much, and some people who seem to have never heard of them. This is what you need to know: Commas are very much like chocolate. Not only do they both start with the letter "C" (I have preschoolers, so I notice these things), but they also 1) have a definite place in life, 2) can be over-indulged, and 3) when used correctly, can make things so much easier to process.
And finally, a big thank you to Daryl Hall and John Oates for the title of today's post. Who couldn't use a little Hall & Oates to brighten their day? :) Enjoy!
I Can't Go For That (No Can Do) - Daryl Hall & John Oates
# of Edits: 38
I remember the saga of the editing job on the Forum, Jane. I'm so glad you found a way to say, "No can do."
ReplyDeleteNow, if I've used my comma right... ; )
Thank you, Zan Marie! I'm glad I figured it out, too!
DeleteDon't worry, your commas are all good. :)