[Steven Lyle Jordan]

I agree that most writers simply want to write. They don't want to master HTML and create their own websites, they don't want to become sales managers, etc. So they look for an easy way to publish. The Kindle store provides that for them. And if they manage to make enough money selling that way to be satisfied, good on them.

If we ever see some ePub-generating software that's "easy for Grandma to use," plus easy-to-find sites where authors can upload their works, we will probably see these authors spread out and disseminate their works even further. (Actually, Smashwords does provide pretty much that... spread the word!) But in the meantime, we'll continue to see authors taking the non-techy "easy way" to publishing.

I've already noticed that these threads of which you speak tend to be quickly filled with comments like, "That's great. What about formats for the rest of us?!?" Hopefully comments like that will wake them up to the fact that they really need to look further afield for their markets.