Total Editor Death

I'm larping as a lit guy here but I do get the sense that the reason for the dearth of decent mainstream writers is the decline of the editor role.

Some of the new autist dissidents don't like editors (like the original HP Lovecraft, who refused all editorial) but historically almost all great writers not only had editors but editors famous for editing other famous writers.

Maxwell Perkins edited Hemingway, Fitzgerald, and Thomas (not Tom) Wolfe.

Albert Erskine edited Faulkner, McCarthy, Robert Penn Warren.

Ezra Pound edited Frost, Eliot, Joyce.

Much is made of the PMC takeover of all creative industries, but less is made of the qualitative characteristics of that group. It's not simply that there are more middle men, it's who these middle men are. Namely, not men.

The middle layers should be thin and electrified, and defined by their ability to gamble on new talent and win, not thick and viscous, defined by their ability to monetize existing talent.

Similarly, the artist should yes s…