"Dear Carol: I Committed the Sin of Overediting" - The Subversive Copy Editor Blog | Metaglossia: The Translation World | Scoop.it
I received an email from an author over the weekend.

Hi Carol—

I’m sure you won’t get this before I gather my strength tomorrow and face the difficult task of answering one of my authors’ emails. But because I’m sure you’ve plenty of advice to give, better late than never.

I received an email from an author over the weekend. He was very unhappy with the job I did editing his book manuscript and writes that I did “too thorough” a job, changing sentences that did not need to be changed, and in the process, introduced some typographical errors and some content errors.

I will not say that this is untrue. I know I spent a lot of time on his edit, and I’m sure I did, indeed, commit the sin of overediting. My question is how do you come back from that? I know I need to submit an apology, but I’m not sure what else to say other than “I’m sorry you’re unhappy and for the inconvenience.” I’ve only been a copyeditor for a few months and I’m still trying to get the hang of this gig.