When I first started working in publishing, authors never asked, "What is the publisher for?"

But these days, when publishers say the manuscript needs to be ready to go, when authors hear that publishers don't reliably market and promote, when authors learn that most books sell on Amazon (etc etc - everything debatable but with some truth), then authors ask more often, and rightly so, "What is the publisher for?"

Layer on top of that how big publishers now sign successful indie authors for multi-book deals because those authors have done the hard part: they figured out how to reach their readers and have proven market demand.

I think this is a real and growing problem for publishers unless they are a Fitzcarraldo or some kind of publisher that has a remarkable brand or meaning in the marketplace (of booksellers, librarians, readers, preferably a mix).