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Large traditional publishers don't have editors anymore, Paul. Authors are expected to have paid for professional editing out of their own pockets before they even submit to agents. So the importance of editing is irrelevant to whether or not self-publishing is the way of the future.
untrue. though the editing is rarely done in house, publishers do have manuscripts edited.
I mean, I can't speak for every sector of publishing - but in the 1.5 years of serious research I've been doing on publishing a science fiction novel not unlike Hocking's, everyone - every last person I have talked to, author, agent, editor, publisher, whatever - has told me that publishers have no interest and no resources, internal or external, for editing a manuscript once it reaches them. They take final drafts or nothing.
People pay 99 cents for this?
So, hey, SLOG ... I was thinking...
Hell, maybe you've stumbled on a new market. Start an online editing service and agree to take 1-2% of proceeds from every sale.
Self-published folks like Hocking do get edited and copy-edited before publication, just not by the publisher.
In 20 years, publishing houses will no longer exist. Entities like Amazon.com and its future competitors and descendants will sort of take their place as shopping-cart mechanisms for buying books. Authors may still have agents, or "publication managers" who oversee the editing and self-publication process, but all books will be e-books, and if hard copies are ever needed they will be print-on-demand (cf. the machine at University Bookstore).
Marketing will be paid for by the author and/or agent, or by Amazon.com and its future competitors and descendants. But actual publishers will no longer exist.
The only physically published books in 20 years will be fancy, elaborate, art-book editions--hand-bound, hand-gilt, etc., because by then publishing will have reverted to an art form.
Editors are not a necessary part of the book-writing process. Even if we assume they are it can be crowd-sourced for nothing.
Middle-men are all going to be out of work soon. Get good at something.
Print this out because you heard it here first. As the pie slices between team owners and players shrinks, the first casualty will be coaching staffs.
10 years ago the music industry scoffed at the idea of artists getting paid without them. Meanwhile, Kristin Hersh probably hasn't cashed a royalty check since the 90s and she's probably never made so much money off of her music.
We may long for the lost quality of edited publishing 40 years from now, and by then the market will have stabilized and editors can go and reapply for those jobs from the people who see the benefit.
But you won't save your job by talking doom and gloom in your own paper.
Bright side is someone is making a killing while maintaining complete ownership and control of their own content. You'd be thrilled at the prospect if you thought it applied to you in a good way.