I am very excited about the Program. But what I am missing here, are the fundamentals for monetization. How can you earn money when publishing an island? Thanks for any info on that, appreciate it.

You can find a breakdown of engagement payouts here: https://create.fortnite.com/news/introducing-the-creator-economy-2-0 Basically, the revenue is split between island publishers (including Epic) based on island “engagement” metrics - determined by things like player popularity and retention.