First of all, I love this blog and I love this post, so go read it.
https://warriorwriters.wordpress.com/2016/09/07/author-brands-book-sales-why-boutique-is-big/
Or I can summarize (but you should still read the post). It’s about finding your subgroup. Because big, all-encompassing trends are great, but more and more people are drawn to micro trends, the things that pop up overnight, and are usually finished by morning. So that’s the environment we’re writing in. This is good, because it means rather than trying to hit that one single million-dollar sale, we can shoot for the smaller ones.
The problem is that in order to really catch the smaller, more specialized markets, we have to show that we really do fit in their interests. A favorite quote from the above article (courtesy of Kristen Lamb): “It’s the main reason it’s death to be the All-Writing-All-The-Time-Channel. That’s a one-dimensional subculture that is overfished and quickly grows stagnant. Also, any writer worth his/her salt is interested in a lot of things.”
People appreciate boutiques, where we can buy those specialized things that were crafted with a little more love and care than is available on the mass market. Brands work the same way. (And I’m still summarizing, so to be clear these are not my ideas. I just really like them.)
And the way to build a boutique brand is to (still summarizing)
1. Build a platform on things that encompass the writing and you. Not just the technical aspects of writing either, but things that relate to the genres you write, and the book you write. And it couldn’t hurt to add a few elements of the things you love, and the hobbies you have. Make it personal!
2. Using that personality, engage with the audience. Build relationships. Figure out what they want in a book, and how to sell it to them.
That’s the kind of platform I want. That everyone wants, I think. So here goes.
No-Clue Writing 
I like stories of “pretend” but that could actually be “real and happen” even if the reality is exaggerated. I like to pretend that “I could do that, maybe”.
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I agree, for the most part with the author of the blog you refer to. But I disagree that people are less “uniform” than in days past. We may be more varied in our tastes for food or clothes since the world has become a smaller place, but the thought police are alive and well. (Just go to any college campus these days and look for the “safe space” where you can go if someone offends you by thinking differently than you do.)
I also disagree that “50 Shades of Grey” created a new sub-genre. Smut has been popular from time immemorial.
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Perhaps “created” is the wrong word. “Popularized” or “made mainstream” might be more accurate.
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