That is the crux of the matter, I think. There is a clear advantage to the author with the desire (or need) to become a celebrity, as opposed to the author who just wants to write good books. There is a further advantage to churning out many books in a popular genre rather than working on one book that requires more research and/or polishing to say something more substantial.

The biggest self-publishing successes of today are working in popular niches and putting at least as much effort in marketing and “upsells” as in the actual writing, or have the means to hire effective marketing help.

From the examples I’ve read, most of their works will gladden the hearts of bookkeepers more than those of book readers except for the author’s particular fans. Sadly, that’s precisely what most traditional publishing houses are aiming for these days. My old-fogeyism is no doubt showing but I miss the days when today’s Big Five imprints were independent publishers, each with its own tastes and an emphasis on publishing what some individual or close-knit group thought were really good books.

As a novice publisher (after decades editing for others) I am definitely bucking the trend and expect not much income from the venture. That discouragingly long list of suppliers in the Publisher’s Perspective piece would be at least four times the length if they had listed all the potential suppliers they had to investigate before finalizing their plans. After more than a year, I’m still finding the winnowing daunting, and a self-publishing author needs exceptional fortitude to get past the “put it up on Amazon and see what happens” approach that makes success an extreme long shot. As an “older” I’m very pleased that these authors did and look forward to reading their book.