[fjtorres]

Konrath writes his blog, as stated, for newcomer authors.
(It's right in the title.)

Howey is trying to reform publishing as a whole to accomodate a fast and relatively painless transition to the digital era (ditto for KKR and DWS) but Konrath isn't. He's not trying to reform tradpub but to warn newcomers as a public service.

Revolutions need both firebrands and statesmen; without the former you don't get enough polarization to undercut the loyalists and without the latter you get a reign of terror and a hijacked revolution in the end. Thomas Paine and Samuel Adams and co. helped stoke the fires for the American Revolution yet it was John Adams, Jefferson, Hamilton, and co. who shaped the post-revolutionary nation.

The early dissenters in the revolutionary era weren't looking for Independence, they were merely looking for a fairer deal for the colonials. If the brits had listened to the reformers they could've nipped the movement in the bud. They didn't and instesd doubled down on their policies providing the environment where the activists could polarize the environment, foster escalation, and turn the mainstream against their oppresors.

In the process they wrote the handbook for successful revolution which, alas, has since been ignored by revolutionary leaders all over except Adam Selene. Who had Simon Jester to do his rabble rousing for him. First rule is you need your Jesters but eventually you have to turn to your Selenes to shape the future.

In the comments at the source and elsewhere, quite a few suggest Konrath start up a true Author's Rights group with him as leader, an idea to which he has so far said nothing. That is, however, something Howey might be amenable to which is why it is him and not Konrath that the traditionalists tend to attack.

Standard revolutionary era politics, really.
The establishment sees Konrath's confrontational style geared to outsiders as a useful way to keep their colonials in line ("He wants us all gone!") and Howey's generally calm calls for reform as a bigger threat because he appeals to the insider authors looking out.

To tradpub apologists Konrath is a raving jester easily deprecated but Howey is an existential threat. Go figure, huh?

As is, both are filling necessary roles in shaping the post-BPH era along with David Gaughran, Courtney Milan, KKR, DWS, A.C. Crispin (founder of Author Beware) and dozens of lesser known activists.

You need to be aware of all their efforts to fully appreciate what is really going on.
Because we are in fact looking at a publishing revolution in the US and the target isn't really the tradpub model but rather the very specific multinationals trying to maintain their fading hegemony by means fair and foul.

If Howey succeeds and the industry reforms, everybody wins with a minimum of damage to the tradpub author careers. If the BPHs hold fast to their "consensus" then Konrath's appeal to the "younger" generation becomes key to starving the hegemony out.

I personally expect the longer, bloodier scenario to play out.

Either way, Konrath is not to be ignored.
Not by authors and not by readers; we're living in a world he is helping to mold.