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The rules that apply to Harlan Ellison do not apply to normal mortals.
He's spent decades developing and marketing Harlan Ellison. The writing is in some ways incidental to the brand. People know who he is. Anybody who's likely to be a customer of his knows the name. They'll buy what he sells without sampling the text because they're not just buying words; they're buying Harlan Ellison, and they already know what that is (it's hard not to). They have friends who have already read Ellison's writing and tell them "based on what I know of your taste, this would be something you'd like" (or hate, for that matter; Ellison tends to inspire very strong emotions). Love him or hate him, there's no mystery about what you're going to get. You're buying Harlan Ellison.
Also, the rules that apply to Harlan Ellison do not apply to ordinary mortals.
If you're not the kind of person whose grocery list gets quoted in the NYT, you have to give people a reason to buy your stuff. It's the matter of competition, again: If I can read a sample of this and know I like it, or have to buy that sight unseen ... well, I'm going to go with the one I know I like. Buying a story from an unfamiliar author without a preview is like walking into a bookstore and buying a random book with your eyes closed.
Mind you, this doesn't necessarily apply to known authors. I bought "Firemaggot" from Barbara Hambly without even reading the blurb. It was an Antryg & Joanna story. That is, it was a story continuing a series that I had read, and liked, on dead trees, and I know that Barbara Hambly is a skilled author. That's all I needed to know; I almost hurt a finger hitting the "buy" button. But I wouldn't have done that if I hadn't already read so many of her dead tree books; that was a sale to an existing fan, not breaking any new ground.
Something to ponder: Harlan Ellison worked (for one day) for Disney. I wonder where that might have gone, collaboratively-speaking?
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