I LOVE that you wrote about this, because it's actually something we talk about a lot behind the scenes -- like, a LOT a lot.

I disagree with your perspective that Boosting means everything is trauma porn -- but that's in part I can see from the data that only a small slice of Boosted stories are the kind of memoir/first person writing that is prone to trauma dumping.

...There's no trauma porn in all the science writing, leadership studies, programming tutorials, historical analyses, javascript code perspectives, and movie reviews that get Boosted. (And those are just a few topical examples.)

That said, I deeply share your concerns about trauma porn and the ways that the attention economy rewards creators for oversharing. It's something I've worried a lot about, both as an editor and publisher, and as an author myself.

I have a dear friend who's had several books published about her mental health journeys (https://www.ellenforney.com/) and she and I have talked a lot about the fine line between sharing your personal challenges, and "trotting the trauma pony around."

I'm sorry you had an encounter with an editor who said something that made you uncomfortable. You may want to work with a different nominating editor who feels like a better fit with your work. Sending care.