I've been thinking about cliques lately. There are huge advantages to social networking, but I wonder if there is a downside? Objectivity. Once, we hardly knew who writers were. We knew their work, but not much about them. We didn't have to. It was mostly about their work. We didn't think we know them personally. All this has changed, writers are friends with other writers, etc, moreso with social networking than ever. Does this make things feel woolly? For instance, once, it was poor protocol for a writer to contact a reviewer in any way, vice versa. Likewise, we would never ask for a blurb from a friend. Now, there is certainly less distance between writers. Most writers would be hard pushed to find writers that aren't a social networking friend they have had contact with. This is all well and good. I'm not saying the people who are published, get good blurbs, etc aren't talented- they are. There is brilliant writing out there, but what about work written by writers not involved in cliques and social circles? Will it be given a fair chance, an equal chance, to work by people within circles of friends? I'm not sure.
I now find myself sitting on work that is better than anything I've done before, but I don't feel confident it will be given a fair chance. Am I being bullied into quitting writing by cliques? Does this happen? Maybe.
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