Probably the only reason I would by a fiction pbook is if there were no fiction ebooks od. For many years I was thrilled with a new pbook, but not anymore. Nothing wrong with them just that I vastly prefer ebooks.
They don't have to have special features, special fonts etc.
Availabilty is a big thin, instant gratification ummm
Convenience features of even the most basic readers, such as book marking a book so you can switch to another and go back without worrying about someone tidying the other book away because you could not possibly be reading two.
Price can be a deciding factor, but not between eversions and paper versions, because I do not want paper versions no matter how cheap they are. I don't dislike them, I just vastly prefer ebooks. Kind of like going back to a black and white tube TV or a TRS-80 computer with a tape deck for storage. Magic at the time but...
If there are 10 books I really want, and I am sure there are thousands, and some are noticably cheaper, I will buy in the lower price range. Same as I ill buy chuck steak at $2 a lb instead of Kobe beef at $40 a lb. or a $14 bottle of wine instead of a $200 bottle of wine. It is about what I can afford and how much I want it.
I would no more think of telling a publisher how much to charge for a book, then I would tell a grocer how much to charge for a steak, or a car manufacturer how much to charge for a car. If I can pay the price doesn't mean I will and sometimes I do without other things to buy something I really cannot afford but have just got to have.
Luckily with ebooks there are so many choices. You can buy them, borrow from the library, or read public domain.
And as near as I can tell the selling price is determined by demand. Not supply and demand as in Kobe beef, but by how many people want to read a certain book right now which is pretty much the way it has been with paper books in the last 30-40 years. If demand is high they print more, if it is low they sell the remaining stock cheaply.
The publishers and authors want to make money, but then so do I. perhaps by asking a higher price they are depriving me of the price of a cappucino or a cheese burger but there is no force or coercion involved. I either pay the price or I don't, no painful comparisons to other formats are necessary.
Helen