And books and libraries existed under a system of patronage and royal imprimatur which severely restricted access, even beyond the expenses of copying a book by hand or physically printing a copy using metal type.

The problems with authors making texts available directly are:

- no gate-keeping, so it's hard to find what is worth reading and what isn't

- no proofreading --- it kills me that errors in books are so casually accepted these days

- few authors have the skills to draw illustrations so as to have a meaningful and clear presentation

I've worked with raw author manuscripts --- in most instances they're not something anyone would choose to read given any other option.