Yikes. Your question - did they not read it? - is indeed the question here. If they are not doing this simple task, then what's the point of them? This walk of shame belongs solely to the publisher.
The publishing industry has to get off it's high horse, and the $10 certificate that The Author's Guild is selling to self-verify that a human wrote this isn't going "to solve" anything.
It's just making things worse, if anything. There's a huge discussion to be had here that's scary to open up, because the only socially correct stance for writers on public platforms is "NO AI EVER BAD BAD AI THIEVES" while the behind the scenes is far more complex and the cat is out of the bag. But this particular issue is not about AI. It's about publishers relying on--platform, history, something, anything, to help them figure out "what will sell". And I can see why--but also, that's not going to work either.
They only need to bother looking at the independent writers for the money machine to go borrow. But they deliberately refuse to. So good to know.i haven't read mainstream English language novels in over a decade.
As if we didn’t already have enough to worry about, now we have to worry that big publishers are not reading the books they publish. I just want to cry.
I wrote about this yesterday. I've read so many things lately that tell me they're just throwing spaghetti at the wall. If I win the lottery I'm starting a publishing company that only publishes things I like. SO there.
I vote for #2 in your list above: "Read it and hate it and figure, oh well, readers will probably buy it anyway?" I've seen it happen even before AI. Poorly written books picked up by major publishers and then barely edited. I would glance at them in bookstores after hearing about them and not be able to get past the first page. Only conclusion I could up with is that if publishers believe a segment of readers will buy a poorly written and edited book because they don't know better or don't care, then the publisher will pick it up. Hachette got called out on this one and I agree: this feels like an "ass-covering witch hunt." P.S. I had a book published by Hachette and it was well edited. They are a fine publisher and this surprised me.
No, the editors didn't read or worse they did but are very incompetent. Unsurprising,since mainstream publishing doesn't care for quality just easy money.
I just met with another writer yesterday who said one of her books (years ago) came back from the publisher without any editing (the only feedback on the manuscript was little more than "looks good!") so she ended up hiring her own outside editor. Yikes.
While this has never happened to me, I know so many people it HAS happened to. ANd it kinda sounds like the dream... but it is NOT. We need editorial help. All of us. This is on so many levels a problem.
Of you read Twitter posts from my mutuals, this and can't even be arsed to market the book then are immediately dropped has been standard business practice for decades.
KJ, this is a flat out terrific post.
HI HELAINE that means a ton from you and I'm so glad to see you.
Yikes. Your question - did they not read it? - is indeed the question here. If they are not doing this simple task, then what's the point of them? This walk of shame belongs solely to the publisher.
Your point about what if AI can do it better....is interesting. I took this quiz last week and was surprised how I scored. https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2026/03/09/business/ai-writing-quiz.html?unlocked_article_code=1.UlA.SfJv.CgBQi20qadwK&smid=url-share
The publishing industry has to get off it's high horse, and the $10 certificate that The Author's Guild is selling to self-verify that a human wrote this isn't going "to solve" anything.
It's just making things worse, if anything. There's a huge discussion to be had here that's scary to open up, because the only socially correct stance for writers on public platforms is "NO AI EVER BAD BAD AI THIEVES" while the behind the scenes is far more complex and the cat is out of the bag. But this particular issue is not about AI. It's about publishers relying on--platform, history, something, anything, to help them figure out "what will sell". And I can see why--but also, that's not going to work either.
They only need to bother looking at the independent writers for the money machine to go borrow. But they deliberately refuse to. So good to know.i haven't read mainstream English language novels in over a decade.
100% agree!
As if we didn’t already have enough to worry about, now we have to worry that big publishers are not reading the books they publish. I just want to cry.
I wrote about this yesterday. I've read so many things lately that tell me they're just throwing spaghetti at the wall. If I win the lottery I'm starting a publishing company that only publishes things I like. SO there.
Kudos! Awesome post.
Thank you, KJ. I had many similar thoughts. Most important : we need to update the system ASAP.
Thank you for the FIRE on this, KJ -- it's indeed ridiculous.
Every thing you said here. amen
you've spelled out exactly what horrifies me about this whole story
I vote for #2 in your list above: "Read it and hate it and figure, oh well, readers will probably buy it anyway?" I've seen it happen even before AI. Poorly written books picked up by major publishers and then barely edited. I would glance at them in bookstores after hearing about them and not be able to get past the first page. Only conclusion I could up with is that if publishers believe a segment of readers will buy a poorly written and edited book because they don't know better or don't care, then the publisher will pick it up. Hachette got called out on this one and I agree: this feels like an "ass-covering witch hunt." P.S. I had a book published by Hachette and it was well edited. They are a fine publisher and this surprised me.
No, the editors didn't read or worse they did but are very incompetent. Unsurprising,since mainstream publishing doesn't care for quality just easy money.
I just met with another writer yesterday who said one of her books (years ago) came back from the publisher without any editing (the only feedback on the manuscript was little more than "looks good!") so she ended up hiring her own outside editor. Yikes.
While this has never happened to me, I know so many people it HAS happened to. ANd it kinda sounds like the dream... but it is NOT. We need editorial help. All of us. This is on so many levels a problem.
Of you read Twitter posts from my mutuals, this and can't even be arsed to market the book then are immediately dropped has been standard business practice for decades.