QUOTE:
". . .'tiered publishing' where every book published passes through an autobot drafting system. Books that have too many formatting errors, too many spelling mistakes and grammatical problems still get published, but go into the pool of books that is never shown to the general reading public. The authors of those books can still get their family and friends to buy by giving them the link to their book, but they aren't accepted for AA marketing . . ."
In turn, I think it's an idea with merit, but I can see the near-impossibility of implementing it — and I'd do so differently. I can see value in some kind of recognition or acknowledgment system that an author has made and spent the effort/resources to ensure their writing meets certain, basic standards. It could weed out a lot of crap from search engine results, and make some junk writers who have no intention of doing anything except try to "cash in" on what they see as a quick buck to think twice about publishing rubbish. KU 1.0 was rife with opportunists publishing utter garbage to score the nominal rental fee.
But again, how such a system could be fairly implemented is hard to imagine. You couldn't really rely on bots.
My only prediction for 2020 is that the "gap" between high-volume writers and writing mills—and the associated promotional blitzes—and writers who produce occasional great books will widen even more. Getting any kind of visibility for the once-a-year writer who doesn't have the resources or energy, or motivation for that matter, to employ mailing lists and AMS campaigns, etc ... well, it'll be very discouraging. Finding a small, dedicated audience will be next to impossible. The old "gatekeepers" of traditional publishing days are being replaced by financial and social media requirements that many writers will find insurmountable.