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Alternatively, these publishers could look at a successful existing solution over at Webscriptions and Baen. The get their die-hard fan tax by selling eARCs (electronic Advance Reader Copies) for $15 to $25; then sell the finished eBook at $6 about two weeks before the hardcover hits the shelf. But by clever disintermediation, they (and their authors) net nearly as much money on each eBook as they would in hardcover (more than trade-paper, but a bit less than HC). And, they get a fair number of double -- or even triple -- sales to fans who purchase ebook and hardcover (and sometimes eArc as well). Cutting out layers of distribution for eBooks is perfectly feasible, and saves money for everyone -- except the distributors, of course. But they add no value in eBook sales.
I won't even mention the cleverness of monthly bundles, and the free library, and snippetting and... oops.
Xenophon
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