I'm used to waiting for the paper back to buy, I very rarley would buy hard backs. I objected to the big paper back before the normal size one that happened with some books.
A lot of ebooks I read are lower in price because they have been out longer. But I have found Harper Collins ebook store which on some ebooks a sort of reasonable but you have to pay your local tax.
I think the more I buy using a publishes ebook site the more they will catch on to the growing interest in ebooks.
http://www.harpercollinsebooks.co.uk/
becky