Do litmag editors often make significant edits without the approval (or awareness) of the original author?
Hi all! I'm a relatively new writer -- I've gotten two short stories published so far. One of them was with an online litmag I'll generously describe as..........uncommunicative. They accepted my work two months ago, and the acceptance email mentioned that their editors would begin the copyediting process. I hadn't heard anything from them since then, so about two weeks ago I emailed to follow up and received no response. (FWIW, there's another post about this litmag on reddit from last year complaining about their lack of communication, so I know I'm not the only one experiencing this).
Today, I saw my story was published on their website and was relieved -- until I read it.
It's mostly the same as when I submitted, except for a few minor punctuation changes and one significant and inexplicable line change at the end of the piece.
My piece has deliberately political undertones, and I worry that this line change takes away from the subtle point I was trying to make. It also, frankly, makes the piece a bit sillier and less impactful. I don't have a large body of work, so I want to ensure the pieces I *do* publish are ones I'm proud of. Perhaps I'm being too sensitive, but I'm not sure I'm proud of this anymore.
I'm debating emailing the editors and requesting they revert the change. Is that something I can do, or is it considered "diva" behavior? Is this type of no-contact editing...normal?