Now that I'm tracking more lit agents on Twitter, I think I'm starting to understand where this attitude is coming from, at least in traditional publishing.
Even indie baby agents apparently get hundreds of query letters a week. Fucking hundreds. Every week. Even if they've never made a sale before. I think maybe the intensity of the competition drives people a little crazy. If cutting other people down is the only way to feel like you have control over getting your work out of the slush pile, I guess that's what you do?
Interestingly enough, I recently read a culture essay... https://www.thecut.com/2022/02/a-vibe-shift-is-coming.html ...that argues that we're arriving at a generational vibe shift. The essay itself probably isn't worth reading, but the author quotes someone who says that people are starting to retreat from big open corporate-owned public spaces into smaller and more closed venues. Which makes perfect sense to me.
It's a shame, though. Smaller and more closed venues are nice, but only if you're already on the inside.
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Even indie baby agents apparently get hundreds of query letters a week. Fucking hundreds. Every week. Even if they've never made a sale before. I think maybe the intensity of the competition drives people a little crazy. If cutting other people down is the only way to feel like you have control over getting your work out of the slush pile, I guess that's what you do?
Interestingly enough, I recently read a culture essay...
https://www.thecut.com/2022/02/a-vibe-shift-is-coming.html
...that argues that we're arriving at a generational vibe shift. The essay itself probably isn't worth reading, but the author quotes someone who says that people are starting to retreat from big open corporate-owned public spaces into smaller and more closed venues. Which makes perfect sense to me.
It's a shame, though. Smaller and more closed venues are nice, but only if you're already on the inside.