I Thought Publishers Still Used Editors

So, if the newspapers have fired all of their editors, I thought at least the book publishers would still retain a few. After all - if you buy a manuscript, spend tons of money printing it and publicizing it, wouldn't you want it to be perfect?

Writers write. They rely on editors to edit.

I fear that all too soon we'll be reading books written in text-speak. Aauugghh!

cn u imgne tht????? it wud be rly bad!!!!!!!! like OMG!!! roflmao!!!!!!!!

So I was reading a book from a very well known publisher recently, and this error jumped out at me (I swear, it literally jumped off of the page and bit me - still have the marks):

...scrape off the old gasket, put on a new gasket with sealant, put the head back on. We had already taken off the cylinder head and I had scrapped off the old gasket after getting home from school.

Oh the agony! How did they miss that?

I fear that my escape into books will have to rely on ones published before word processors. I guess I'd be safe with the works of Homer and Plato. Wonder if any they wrote any chick lit?