Why Obscenity-Laced Rants Still Indicate the Blogger's Immaturity
 
Recently a blog post denigrating independent authors has been making its rounds of Facebook and Twitter.  I am not going to share the link as I don't wish to drive any further traffic to the blog in question.  The person behind the post choses to remain anonymous, but assures us that he works for a major publishing house.  (I say "he" and " his" as my mental image of the poster is that of a skinny jean wearing early twenty-something hipster male, although the poster may be female, so feel free to adjust pronouns to suit your own impression.) I am sure that he does do some form of work in publishing. I do pray, though, that he is not an editor, as his own writing style is, how to put this politely?  Lacking.  Such a heavy reliance on the use of obscenities to make a point demonstrates a lack of maturity, poor vocabulary or both.  I'm sure he knows several big words, but that the fact he chooses to rely on profanity indicates that he doesn't know how to use them in a sentence. 
 
Let me save you the trouble of digging for treasure in the blogger's trash.  His main point (and an excellent one it is):  Invest in an editor.  He is absolutely correct in this. 

I am blessed in the fact that I was introduced to an excellent developmental editor, Kristin Weber, by my agent.  I go through a round with Kristen before ever sending anything off to my equally excellent editor at my publisher.  I rely on Kristin to pull me back from the edge.  While writing The Source, second book in the Witching Savannah series, I came up with a FABULOUS scenario, where a minor character is revealed to be behind everything from the sinking of the Lusitania to the kidnapping of the Lindberg baby to faking the moon landing. (Okay, I exaggerate a little.)  I pulled it all together with a big bow, and slammed it on Kristin's desk with a "TADA!"  Kristin said no.  Kristin was right.  The whole scenario was too convoluted.  And yes.  Contrived.  And no.  The punch line was not worth the setup it took to get the reader there.  Working with Kristin saved me the embarrassment of having my publisher's editor deliver the same message.  So my addition to the blogger's advice would be:  Invest in an editor, and then listen to that editor.

Kristin can be found at http://www.kristenweber.com/.