I'm just wondering here, after reading some discussions on poor editing quality in some (note that I say some, not all) epublishers, I wonder whether the problem here is the lack of good incentives that stop many good editors, copyeditors, and proofreaders from working with them. Most epublishers don't offer fixed wage, most offer instead things like a share of the royalties of the book they edited (which won't be much if the books don't sell well) or free copies of the books they worked on (um... yay, how exciting).

If I am a qualified and experienced editor of any sort, I personally do not want to work on some low wage. If I am qualified to become an editor of any sort, I'd be sending my job application to publishing houses where I get a steady and reliable wage along with other job benefits. I will not be applying to work for Peanut Romances that offer me promises of future payments (only if the book sells!) or free electronic copies of the book I worked on.

Perhaps the generally low level of incentives offered give rise to shoddy editing and proofreading? That's my guess anyway. I mean, if you offer peanuts for wages, what kind of job applicants will you get?

That may be true, but I'm sure there are passionate people out there who want to make a difference, even if it's for a pittance. Agents start out by being interns for established agents and editors. They don't do it for the money, they do it for the love of books.

Blog entry capacity? Who knew? I'll bookmark your new site, although I'm not crazy about the Livejournal format.

As a former editor this kind of thing makes me mad. When I left my last employer (a small publishing company), more than 10 years ago now, they asked the receptionist to take over... whenever she had time in between telephone calls, visitors, copying and other more important duties...
There are also lots of people who will work for almost nothing - teenagers, students, bored housewives etc - and of course not hindered by lack of knowledge. But... they are cheap and that's the bottom line nowadays. And lots of readers can't spot the mistakes anyway.
The same thing is happening to qualified translators (anyone can use a dictionary, right?), graphic designers (anyone can whip up a logo on his laptop, right?) etc. Maybe brain surgeons are next... Not many brains left anyway.