@riggbeck Yes, but also triangulate for Eric Blair's thinly-disguised disdain (bordering on contempt) for said "proles".

@robryk Yes. But also: KU gives you up to 20 loans simultaneously, no minimum/maximum duration, for a flat $10 a month. So readers who don't want slop and accidentally get slop may idly flip pages before they hit the "return to KU" button and try a different book. Which is the grifter's pay-off. Publishing lots of titles under many names simply games the rec algorithm (which includes some random new titles along with some from popular authors).

@mms AI is not a threat to real writers. The same problems apply as always, with the same solution: get an agent, get a trad publishing deal, get marketed. Only instead of starting out via short fiction in the pulps/monthly magazines, there are other on-ramps; web serials, patreons, self-pub with web serials/patreons to generate paying customers, then self-pub sales to get big agent/publisher attention (if you want them).

It's a business, same as it's always been. And this is just another scam.