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Worldwalker, I don't believe that publishers reject good work on the basis of jealousy, but I'm not sure that anyone really knows "what customers will pay for" until after they pay for it. Then it's obvious. And sometimes "what customers will pay for" is, as far as I can tell, really awful writing.
And once buyers get their books home, how many people actually read them? Have you ever joined a book club? Everybody buys the book. That's the easy part. Most of the members of my book club never got past chapter three. I'm convinced that book readers and new book buyers are two completely different demographics. For example, I read books by the teetering pile. I get them from the library, from friends and family, from second hand stores, in ebook format if they're cheap, and sometimes from the bookstore. If I bought them all new, I'd be on the run from creditors.
Now, back to the attitude of publishers, editors, agents and writers discussing other writers: snippy, contemptuous, but with polite form letters.
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