But why does it have to be fiction, and why does the author have to be anonymous? There's a big difference between being anonymous and being a social media influencer: I'd guess most of the best and most influential fiction and non-fiction authors have fallen in that range.
The thing to avoid is a world where publishers would say "Sorry, Mr. Faulkner, we won't be publishing your little book until you get a few more followers."
My immediate thought was: would it even work to publish a non fiction book anonymously?
> There's a big difference between being anonymous and being a social media influencer.
Agree. My reasoning was: even without any digital social media, charisma (and other factors such as having connections or previous success) is probably a trait that positively influences an author's success. If you want "pure quality of the oevre itself" to speak for itself, then shouldn't it have been published anonymously?
But I agree on the rest of the comment.