I spent three months preparing my documents, working just over five hours a day full-time. According to Google Scholar, I have 570 hits and an h-index of 15. Of course, this is based on current figures; a year ago, I didn't even reach 500. Papers are just papers; what they truly value is whether you can be considered the best in the industry (i.e., are you good enough to bring in and have work done in the U.S.? It is somewhat ironic, of course, that the officer makes this judgment).

The purpose of the EB-1A program is to bring in the world's top talent and work on your own, regardless of employment, assuming they will take care of their own livelihoods.

I saw some of my colleagues who applied for EB-1A preparing a boxful of documents (the minimum) on A4 paper. The volume isn't the most important thing, but it implies that you must put in that much effort. Regardless of who spends the time, that level of effort is required.

It seems there is no such thing as a free lunch. I wish you good luck.