I just finished going through the copy-editor's changes on my first novel.

[smoogatz]

It's a humbling experience. I have no idea how capitalization works, it turns out. And some of the fact-checking stuff was useful. But a fair amount of the changes he/she wanted to make were clunky and dumb. So there.

[DavidDvorkin]

1. Congratulations! You're no longer a virgin. :)

My impression has long been that some copyeditors make changes not because those changes are needed but because that's how they would have written the book had they been the author. But they ain't.

[smoogatz]

2. Yep--

my first two books were books of poems, and there was no "copy editor" per se--just long conversations with my editor, a guy I knew personally and who'd been publishing my individual poems in a magazine for years. This is very different and very weird; some anonymous someone who seems to want me to write like everyone elese. Hands off my prose, mofo... But a lot of the edits were kind of eye-opening, like the capitalization thing, and some very obscure rules of punctuation I didn't know about.

[Orrex]

4. Differing priorities, perhaps?

Hands off my prose, mofo...

Well, did you submit the work with the intent of making it more publishable? Or did you ask the copy editor to fix the grammar and spelling but leave the style alone? If the former, then you may have gotten what you asked for, even if you don't like the stylistic changes. If the latter, then maybe you should consult another copy editor, this time with a clear statement of expectation before you submit.

[smoogatz]

5. The book's coming out in August.

The copy editor works for my publisher, and was selected by my editor. It's a standard part of the publishing process, over which the author has ultimate control.

[Orrex]

6. Cool--that last phrase is the important part!

I would have thought that the author's wishes get ground up in the machinery of publication, so it's nice to hear otherwise. Congratulations!

:hi:

[Orrex]

3. I think that's a tough call to make

If the copy editor is a professional, then one hopes that she'll handle an author's work objectively. Not that this will always be the case, but if you're trusting a copy editor to review your work, then it's not unreasonable to give her the benefit of the doubt.

For that matter, if the copy editor is attached to a publishing house or has experience in helping to bring new work to the market, then it may be that she's applying her edits with an eye toward publishability.