He's nailed it for me here:
"Unless they have some reason to think they might enjoy an unfamiliar author, they will simply ignore them. For years, and years, and years."
I saw David Weber's Honor Harrington books for 6~8 years before I picked one up because "my" authors weren't publishing anything for a while (and I figured that there were enough in the series to keep be busy for a while if I actually liked them). Now Mr. Weber is quite possibly my favorite author. Through his collaborations, I've encountered other authors I enjoy: John Ringo, and Eric Flint, for example.
Part of my reluctance to try new authors is just change inertia on my part, but a good chunk of it is not wanting to spend money on books when I don't know if I'll like them or not. That's to a large degree a holdover from when I had a lot less money to spend on books, and it's changing gradually (my attitude on the point, I mean), but still, there it is.
