I think page padding is more a thing in self publishing. I'm part of a few fiction writer communities and longer (in general) makes more money. You are advised

I think page padding is more a thing in self publishing. I'm part of a few fiction writer communities and longer (in general) makes more money. You are advised to start with short stories and graduate to novels as soon as possible. This is especially true for authors enrolling their books in Kindle Unlimited. They are paid per page read. The more pages they can have the reader go through without boring them enough to just quit, the more they get paid.