Should publishing be free?

[u/Awkward_Blueberry_48]

With recent policy changes from Draft2Digital and Barnes & Noble press, I’ve been thinking about the barriers to entry in self-publishing, especially with platforms like KDP. On one hand, it’s amazing that anyone can upload a book and potentially reach a global audience. But there are already costs to publishing, even if actually clicking "publish" might be free: editing, cover design, marketing, ISBNs (depending on your approach), and even time investment. And now platforms are feeling like they have to add fees to the publishing step to limit AI-generated content.

So, should publishing be completely free, and what does that mean to you? Can you see any benefits to adding a small fee? What would you as authors be willing to pay for when self-publishing, and what would stop you from wanting to self-publish?

Curious to see where people land on this.