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For me, e-books are a substitute for paperbacks, not hard covers. Hard covers are for gifts, for presentation values ... Sarah Palin's Going Rogue is a great example. I have no interest in owning a hard cover -- I am mildly interested in the content. I would never buy it at $25; I might buy it at $10 in the initial period to "be in the loop"; six months on, good luck getting me to pay $5. For the publisher, however, where production, distribution, and returns costs are almost $zero, why not embrace the e-book segment since it's likely complementary and more profitable, than the existing channels?
I, for one, do not believe "hard covers will die" due to selling .awz files. People will continue to want to purchase physical books -- let them. And let's have e-books as complementary revenue streams that add value to the business eco-system which supports readers, authors, publishers and distributors.
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