In a nutshell: Yes,
literally everyone CAN publish now. The assumption of every one of said newcomers that they actually
are worth reading is a different can of worms each of them opens for him/herself and might end up gagging on the contents.
Reminds me of the (non-economic) "everyone can have a webpage now" hype.
Which gifted us with a (slushpile comparable) ammount of pages basically saing: "Hi, my name is $dork and below you see some self-shot photos of my $pet. (keep this in mind when someone says that porn is the pest of the internet.)
I remember being asked over and over in these days if I have a webpage already (followed by a "why not?" thereafter)
To which I always said: "Should I one day have something worth to tell a big part of the whole world I'll rethink my position."
That's even more valid for books, IMO.
Yes, it certainly has its merits when ones lazyness is bigger than the wish to shine
In the meantime... Why shouldn't the web have its own equivalent of "Next idol/model/idiot" freakshow?