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I didn't agree with the judgements of the author. Instead of bemoaning the dumbing down of the reading public, how about comparing it to the majority of the public, who haven't read a book since high school?
The main reason these self-published works are doing so well is simple economics. If I don't like what I read (and I probably only like 50% of it, and never reread anything), I would rather have spent $2 than $14.99.
I read the new Stephen King book in a weekend. If I am going to consume books that fast, they are more like junk food, and junk food is popular because it is cheap! I can knit with $3 of yarn for an entire day. But it would cost a lot more than $3 to buy the number of best sellers I might read. Given the availability of streaming movies, I have changed behavior from primarily being a reader who knits to a knitter who reads. (But I have to stop late night knitting - I screwed up an entire sweater last night at 1 am. Cutting the bad part out with a sissor seemed to make sense).
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