[wongarsu]

Writers getting paid by the amount of books they sell is a pretty efficient way to allocate their work, but it's not the only way. If book sales vanished over night I'm sure interest in alternative means of financing would surge, and a new "standard" would establish itself.

Historically most art was financed through patronage/sponsors, wealthy people or institutions that sponsored people for the social status, or commissioned works from them. Both of those systems have been democratized by the internet, with people sponsoring artists they like with systems like Patreon, or just straight paying them money to create something. The same is happening with Twitch subscriptions (essentially donations to the streamer). There's no reason it can't work on a larger scale for most literature. Sure, priorities would shift, but it might also enable authors more creative freedom than publishers are comfortable with.