Yeah I agree. I feel like if someone just doesn't have the writing chops to get published by Random House or something we probably shouldn't give them any support. Mainstream publishers exist for a reason, and that reason is to filter out people who don't have talent, this is why books published by publishers have much much higher standards of writing across the board. Any survey of any Borders bookstore will bear this out. Also, generally, people who can't get published by major publishers aren't working hard enough. In fact, the motto of one of my favorite 20th Century German publishers was 'Work will make you free'.
Edit:I'm trying desperate to remember the actual German phrase that their motto was, but it is totally failing to escape the deep dark furnaces of my mind.
Epstein didn't kill himself.