> No, I don't think somebody getting into Re-Zero is going to start reading VNs like Umineko someday

You realize Umeniko got an anime? Yes, some of the people who watched that anime probably went to read the books, is that really so hard to believe? Authors who got their works animated see a lot more book sales as well. Then as they read those books they might want more so they look for adjacent books, fueling the entire industry.

Well, the Umineko anime was pretty bad... But I illustrated the disprecancy between the VN culture and larger Anime culture for reason that the VN subculture is already very close to Anime subculture yet receives much less attention. Of course a few individuals can "graduate", but we can observe statistically most don't. Majority of AoT fans aren't going into MuvLuv.

Contemporary Literary Fiction as in the article is separated by far more cultural layers, there is virtually no cross pollination with the otaku subculture. You are far more likely to get someone who reads Westen literature to expand to Japanese works than an otaku to do so.