I'm likely in the minority on this, but when I hear someone promote their 500 page novel and it's the first in a quadrilogy, that's a big turn off for me. Writing is an investment of my time, and unless it really stands out from the crowd, there's a good chance I'm not gonna take that investment.

So novels don't equate to what I am always looking for. And the success of podcasts and visual novels show things outside novels do get attention. And my time to invest is scarce. Writers are competing against movies, tv, video games, and even tik tok and YouTube content for that limited free time.