It may not be just individual 'effort'. There are editors involved in one process, and not the other.
For all we know, he writes books that sound like his blog posts, and these get "cleaned up" in the editorial process.
For all we know, he writes books that sound like his blog posts, and these get "cleaned up" in the editorial process.
If you thought fame went to ESR's head, you're wrong; he was always like that.
I don't think he's done much since then that was worth writing home about, but that doesn't take anything away from that particular accomplishment.
CatB, although anecdotal, is trying to make a coherent case from evidence, and the author's ego is kept relatively in check. His later writings became more like opinion pieces, and are constantly self-referential. My irritation with those must have carried over to the original.