But that griping aside, what I really want to know is–what kind of writer turns in a 600 page (nonfiction) book assuming her editor will cut it in half for her, and is disappointed in the lack of editorial involvement when she doesn’t?
The book you turn in should be one you’ve already edited, and that is as already as good as you can possibly make it–not a draft that’s still twice as long as you envision the final book being.
If you’re lucky (and I have been lucky in this way), your editor will then find ways to make your book even better. It is a joy when this happens, and I very much appreciate that the world of children’s books is one where this is still common.
But even if the author in this article also had the sort of involved editor every writer ideally deserves, she still would have been out of line for turning in a book she hadn’t edited herself, first. Not realizing your book needs more work is one thing; and of course deadlines have an effect, too. But this wasn’t a book that needed a little bit more polish; it was a book that needed to be cut by half, and the author already knew it.
Under those circumstances, letting the book out the door instead of working on it some more seems pretty irresponsible to me.