His book was self published and there was no barrier to entry.
Correct, that is the point I am making about crowdfunding a creative work. If he said he needed the funds to print the book, he was either misinformed or a liar. But the idea of paying an advance is to provide the author with funds while he is working on the book. Crowdfunding replaces that when there is no outside publisher. Sure, you can create the work and publish it without crowdfunding, which is also a great option (and keeps you free from any obligations, so you can manage it yourself). But it's a nice option to have, if you want/need some up-front money to get your project off the ground.