Why Are These Writers So Bad At Understanding Words?!

I’m a freelance editor, and I get a lot of work from novelists. This happens every time I’m contacted by a new client.

Client: “Hi there. I have a novel I’d like to have checked before I send it to publishers.”

Me: “That’s fine. I charge £45 an hour, and as long as the manuscript’s somewhere near ready, this sort of job usually takes twelve to eighteen hours. The quickest way is to send it to me as a Word-compatible file, and I’ll use ‘Track Changes’ so you can see exactly what I’ve done.”

Client: “Please find attached my manuscript as a locked PDF. My [agent, mate at the pub, mum, etc.] said this was the format publishers like.”

Every time, I try to explain why this is unnecessarily hard to work with. Every time, they ignore me. And every time, they’re baffled that the job takes longer than I said it would and that they have to make the suggested corrections themselves.