> Wouldn't surprise me if it was easier for the author to hack this together in CSS since he already knows it quite well compared to learning LaTeX. I love LaTeX, but the learning curve is more like a cliff.

Yeah, agree, but a work of fiction doesn't usually have tables, figures, references, equations, etc which can be painful in LaTeX.

It does have kerning, ligatures, orphan/widow management, runs/ladder management, page numbering, chapter numbering, margins (larger closer to the spine), rules, struts, etc that all come for free without the author having to know any of that stuff.

IOW, for a work of fiction, the learning curve for LaTeX is likely limited to setting the font, setting the size, setting the output type (book, article, etc) and using bold, emphasis, underline and possible verbatim.

The learning curve for LaTeX is a cliff if you're writing a thesis, it's simply markup if you're not.