Question about wholesaling

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I'm very new, and plan to get some books on REI and wholesaling this weekend, but I just wanted to ask:

I assume that an investor is only going to be looking for a really good deal if he/she is going to buy a property through a wholesaler. I presume that the investor has already combed the MLS, newspaper ads, etc., and is already familiar with what's out there. The investor is essentially looking to the wholesaler to come up with something that he/she has not seen or found anywhere else. In other words, why would anybody buy a property through a wholesaler and pay them a commission if the investor could've just as easily found the property themselves by looking on the MLS? So essentially, your job as the wholesaler is to find deals that the investor would otherwise not find out about--is that how it works? Please let me know if I have this all mixed up somehow!

Another question I have is, how widespread is wholesaling? How many investors get their deals this way, and what percentage of the time? IE, is it a rare, every once in a while thing, or do some investors buy primarily through wholesalers, or what?