Editing: Why slice & dice?

When readers question why a book has been cut,  they may think it's a simple question...but it's not.  There are both story reasons, and production/marketing reasons, to cut.   Stories are rarely hurt by thoughtful, skillful cutting.  (They may be hurt by ignorant hacking by incompetent editors, but this is rarer than lack of editing.  Most of us have encountered books with large leaden lumps that slow down a  story and make it hard or tedious to read.) 
Type your cut contents here.

Let's talk pr