Few people actually read academic texts
Although it is hard to admit that something that takes so much time and effort to write, such as an academic text, might not be read by many people, it is the hard truth. The specificity of most of the subjects and the length of the publications mean they are only accessible to a few.
While it may be true that nobody reads academic papers in their entirety, they are still partially skimmed by a lot of other researchers. No research subject is ever plucked from the ether, and every scientific paper has citations from other authors that have previously published about similar topics.