Several books I've recently read (or tried to read) by well-established authors have been grossly overwritten. I wonder if they've convinced their publishers to return to the payment style in the days of Dickens--by the word.
Or, more probably, their "big name" makes editors careless with their suggestions, comments, and editing: The "Oh, he's got 15 published titles in the last 4 years...he must know what he's doing" syndrome. As overworked as most editors are, I can see them not editing for these big names, just pushing the manuscript through to proofreading and copy editing.
That makes it pretty hard on the readers who have to wade through paragraphs of redundant phrases and narration.
