tend to the fragile egos
A really interesting word combination i.e. tend to the fragile egos. What does it mean?

"The courteous smile of an author selling books, signing copies or chatting on television shows can be deceptive. Behind the scenes of the book tour that has become as much a part of the modern bestseller as print and paper, the writer may be a contender for a Golden Dartboard Award. This is the Oscar for authors allegedly behaving badly, an informal award nominated by the weary, sometimes traumatized, publicists who travel from city to city garnering publicity and sales. They call themselves ‘babysitters’ as they tend to the fragile egos and unconventional demands of authors."

Tnank you!

Question

tend to the fragile egos
A really interesting word combination i.e. tend to the fragile egos. What does it mean?

"The courteous smile of an author selling books, signing copies or chatting on television shows can be deceptive. Behind the scenes of the book tour that has become as much a part of the modern bestseller as print and paper, the writer may be a contender for a Golden Dartboard Award. This is the Oscar for authors allegedly behaving badly, an informal award nominated by the weary, sometimes traumatized, publicists who travel from city to city garnering publicity and sales. They call themselves ‘babysitters’ as they tend to the fragile egos and unconventional demands of authors."

Tnank you!

Answer

To tend to sth/sb means to deal with the problems or needs of a person or thing.

Writers and artistic types  are often referred to as having fragile egos, it is a little cliched but probably because there is some truth in it.

So the meaning is that the publicist has to look after (tend to) the writer who is a little over sensitive when criticized or even perceiving criticism where there is none (fragile ego).

Answer

People with fragile egos are people that have a lot of pride and get offended very easily.

Tending to is synonymous with looking after, or serving.

So, when they have to tend to their fragile egos it means they need to try and look after the authors, meeting their, potentially silly, demands without upsetting them - which is very easy to do because of their fragile egos.

They call it babysitting to imply it can be like looking after (figuratively) the needs of a bratty child. "I want this". "Get me that". "I want some M&M's, but you have to remove all of the red ones because they ruin my chacra". That sort of thing.

Answer

“Fragile ego” here refers to the fact that artists or authors will deeply identify with their work. For example, an author on a book tour could feel personally hurt if a book-signing event is poorly attended. Another example would be in romance, where it isn’t uncommon to feel rejection very deeply.