i didn't get the feeling that the author has a problem with publishers making money. more like she is sad that publishers are no longer willing to allow an author to build a reputation over a number of years, like they used to. and even there, she seems to acknowledge that it's due to economic realities more than anything else.
i would argue that a real-live nurturing would have been worth more than 150k.
one of her lessons learned was that, yes, there is a downside to having a large first advance. it sounds like the publisher lost money on that book, so after that they were probably thinking of her project as an expensive flop. if she'd taken less money upfront, they might have instead thought of her as a promising author that didn't quite live up to expectations on her first outing.
having said all that, i think the whole thing is moot, because it sounds like a broken racket. there's another regular at salon.com, patrick smith, who has similarly convinced me that becoming a commercial airline pilot is also being part of a broken racket. ditto signing to a music label, trying for tenure at most universities, and so on. i'd advise all of those people to try to find a way to realize their dreams with a more hands-on, iterative approach.
