REI or Author?

[Rick Reed]

It's only been a few weeks since I've serious started looking into RE investing. The BP forums are a huge source of what looks to be valuable information on the subject. Being a cynic, I was initially very skeptical about the validity of the content on BP, just waiting to find the sales pitch. However, after reading several posts where the latest Johnny Come Lately and his new way of "building wealth" has been very professionally asked to provide details and back his claims, I started realizing that there really could be some honest folks here that are truly interested in networking & sharing ideas/experiences. I find that to be rather refreshing considering everything else I've read elsewhere has pretty much boiled down to long winded pitches that read like a novel, then state, "Buy my book to get the details". This leads me to my question...

Why are so many folks in the REI industry selling books and e-books? If one was so wildly successfully running a business, then why would they have the time to spend on writing books on the topic? Would their time not be better spent growing the wildly successful businesses they are writing about? Is it ego? Am I just being to cynical? It really gives a slimy feel to what could truly be a solid way of building long term financial wealth.

Now, I hope I haven't offended anyone with my question. I'm just looking for feedback from an outsider's perspective. I'm hoping no one says, "It's such a tough market to make any money in that causes people to instead sell books and systems".

Any insight?