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I think retail of something which can be freely and cheaply copied is non-sense. Yes, it doesn't take into account all the sweat, tears and deprivations that got into the making, which is why believe in the near future authors will get back to make a living by mecenate: big content providers relying on a monthly fee rather than individual selling of cheaply reproductible and distributable material.
Books were pretty valuable in the old days when they were manuscripts. Then came the press and suddenly it became a lot easier to gain access to information. Then came xerox and it became cheap to duplicate such information. Then came computers and reproducing several copies came for free. Then came the internet and distributing these several copies costs nothing too. Relying on people's morals to think of the author's poor kids and wife won't solve the problem. The old business model simply doesn't work anymore.
How long until Harry Potter or Emo Vampires unusual phenomena convince people otherwise?
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