Doranna, this is the beauty of the internet revolution
People like authors can actually communicate directly with their fans, to everyone's benefit. The customer feels like they can be looked after and have a good experience, and the author can know first-hand what people want. It may not be as nice when you get a bad review and hear it directly from the customer
But it can be great for business because if there is something people want to see and you can provide it for them (even if it is only an answer to a question) then you can get their business, now and in the future. And if they tell you there is a demand for something (see: the Peter S. Beagle thread) then you can go ahead with a project, sure that it will find an audience.
I saw this in the early days of the exercise video community. The bad news was, if you screwed up, there was only one message board where all the fans hung out, and everyone would know. But the good news was...there was one board where everybody hung out, and if you did something good, everyone would know
I remember how floored I was the first time I posted there about a video I was using and had the instructor herself reply to me with some valuable tips and a suggested rotation. It blew my mind a little that I was out there using this person's video and they personally knew this and were cheering me on. I was not a hypothetical customer out there somewhere in the world, I was a real person she had spoken with directly, and she cared about my progress and wanted to help me enjoy it. I thought then (and still think) that this is one of the coolest things about the internet.