That indeed is the ideal stage!

If an author has 30 or so (well written) titles, then I would say the better strategy would be to build your own website than wait for Amazon to "wake up."

The Amazon ad program is a good tool to test out the market. But either it works or it doesn't. I spent $200, and it was obvious that I should not spend any more.

The problem is the oversupply of great works. It's so easy to get published these days! How to stand out from great competitors is a challenge.

I'm not making money from either Medium or Amazon. But it's a great feeling that my work is "out there." I would be very frustrated with 100s of rejections from publishing houses, not really having a chance to find any readers.

My books show up well with Amazon's search engine.