One of eight zillion failure modes in this business. Monetizing art is always brutal for the artist.
IF they keep writing. Bc there is a pipeline of ✨debut✨ > no editing to speak of > dwindling in house enthusiasm > poor sales > ignored 2nd or 3rd book. And the author might well look back at the ✨debut✨ publicity and promises, and think, well, I'll never top that and it still tanked, why bother.