The same goes with authors: They come in every form and background imaginable, and the only way to judge them is by their writing. As I say in the book, the sole common denominator in great or successful writers is: none was born a congenital idiot.
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AC: You describe two key ways an editor can fail a book: through a defective sensibility and a lack of craft.
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In short words, if the editor is a fool — run. Say you need to think about it, and try to find someone better. If the next forty publishers turn you down, go back to the fool, courteously resist his foolish suggestions, and hope someone else in the house chain-of-operation recognizes the real value of what you’ve done. That someone could be the editor’s boss, or someone in sales, or, most likely, someone in subsidiary rights. ^
Thomas McCormack, the author of these quotations, worked as an editor for 25 years before returning to his chosen love, playwrighting. As both an author and a publisher, he captures the balance of the trade in these brief quotations. Avoid idiots. Write what you know. Practice how you write. Inspiring.