This article examines the influence of the copy-editor in Norwegian literary translations by means of quantitative analysis and a sociological approach inspired both by Latour’s actor-network theory and Bourdieusian sociology. The aim of the article is to determine how many changes copy-editors propose in a set of 13 novels translated into Norwegian from English and Romance languages and how many changes the translators accept. The results are subsequently related to the source language of the translations, the genre of the books and the experience of the translators. According to the findings, translators accept a high number of the proposed changes when the quality of the copy-editing is good. Solum argues that rather than reflecting a subservient disposition towards the publisher, these findings show that proper copy-editing is both expected and welcomed by literary translators and understood as an obligation the publisher has towards the translator.