From what I know, when an author submits a draft or whatever to a publisher, an editor or someone will obviously read it and vet it before it goes any further. Making sure that the submitted story isn't just a copy paste of an existing work, etc, etc. Is that how it works? I'm asking becaus I'm confused as to how I keep seeing shameless copies of existing stories being published. Wouldn't an editor or someone have stepped in to say "Woah, woah no, we can't publish this! This is obviously a copy of something else!"? The kind of stories that read exactly like another one except that the characters and events are slightly different. Instead of a character being killed by a truck, he is killed by a falling vase for example (but the rest of the scene plays out the same). I'm also confused as to why some really, really bad stories somehow get published. I mean, they pretty much read like the kind of fantasies that a 12 year old would have while daydreaming in class...the kind that MOST people would be far too embarrassed to put on paper. I'm talking about stuff that actually makes Twilight look like a well written masterpiece. Again, wouldn't someone in the publisher have put a stop to it long before it could get printed? You know, some form of quality control? E.G. Writing a story where the MC is the author's obvious mary sue self insert, gets godlike powers at the start of the story through some sort of plot device, and the rest of the story is him flexing his muscles, beating up bad guys effortlessly while they are completely unable to harm him and dozens of women falling madly in love with him after 5 minutes of interaction (or less). There is no plot, setting or character development and all the characters are just bland stereotypes that are there to fulfill the author's self insert fantasies. Even for a story aimed at teenagers, I just can't see how a publisher would actually accept garbage like the above. The author should have been rejected after someone read the first few pages of his submission. Aren't things like "self insert MC" and "mary sue" considered huge red flags for publishers? Like, showing up late to a job interview? (I'm talking about publishers in general, obviously some will differ in what they will allow, etc).
You've started two threads about authors "copying" other works and your single other post is on the same topic. Can you tell us what your real issue is? Do you think an author has plagiarised your work and been published? Have you written something that you're afraid is too close to another work? You'll get more relevant answers if you tell us the actual problem.
Publishers expect you to guarantee that your work is yours and not plagiarised. They have no way to tell that is reasonable for them to try. Maybe bad stories get published because the editor liked them and paid for them. When you are responsible for making a profit you can be the decider of what gets printed.
