It's easier to be independent, don't you think, if you are offering something for free. If I published my stories on the web, I could write anything I like because no one would be paying me for the opportunity. Of course as soon as it is on the web, there is also nothing stopping someone from taking what I have written, refashioning it and selling it as their own. So do I want to write? To be read? To be paid for my effort? To have an audience? Or some combination. My guess is, that if I am correct that you were given a book to read in rough draft, that the person who offered it is closer than you think in their move toward wanting to be published. Finding an audience gets addictive...having one person read your story is only enough the first time but then you feel compelled (if encouraged) to share again. So I think, I guess, I could be wrong, that the person allowed you to read the book as a test run to get a sense of whether or not it had the possibility of appealing to wider audience, in preparation for making an effort toward publishing in earnest. Putting a rough draft in a reader's hands is only as painful as tearing out your heart, you know. Nothing much at stake except your life's work. Or am I wrong completely? It could be your own book your wrote of so evocatively.