Thinking a lot this week about my old boss (yes, the one who threatened to sue me for RTing something) would have me do query classes with her, a large part of which would be screenshots & discussions about really "bad" queries so the writers in the class would feel better

A huge part of her rather large social media profile was also posting and joking about these queries; it was literally part of her directions on how to grow my own "brand". Really, it was just a way to establish unhealthy power dynamics with potential authors, right off the bat.

As an eager sponge of a 22-year-old, I was hungry to establish my own career, to claim my expertise as someone inside publishing, and I didn't question ANY of these things I was told or shown.

Luckily, another mentor sat me down once and explained to me how taking potshots at strangers who just wanted to be in this industry like I did was, in fact, really shitty! And that I needed to be a compassionate advocate, not a powertripping gatekeeper

I feel like everything I've built over the past few years with @HeadwaterLit and @printrunpodcast is fundamentally penance for the unwitting damage I did to some writers in my early years of agenting, for not thinking critically about if what I was told aligned with my own values

All of this is to say there is an industry-wide issue with agent and agency power dynamics and using slush piles as content is only the tip of the iceberg.

It's important to call out individual bad behavior when you see it, but fundamentally, I don't think this is an individual agent issue. This is a mentorship and education issue. This is an agency issue.

Even "good" agencies teach young agents bad behaviors and convince them that their job is something bigger, fancier, and more powerful (and meaner) than it should be. But if an agent gets in trouble for being shitty? Well, it's never the agency's fault, nevermind what they taught

I think it's time to start demanding that this job, (which you only learn from apprenticeships!) needs better education. Senior agents need to protect the new ones from learning bad power dynamics and everyone should expect more from the mentors and companies shaping the business