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E-books are no more than a niche market even after a decade of promises and predictions that they are the future of publishing. Sure, we read them, but in the real world e-books have many limitaions and annoyances that militate against their acceptance by the reading public. We all know what the problems are (incompatible formats; quirky, limited-capability, high-priced hardware; general inability to annotate; DRM; prices on a par with those of printed books; publishers' antipathy). To add advertising to this stinking mess could only be thinkable to a publisher.
There is no reason to think that the reading public will allow itself to be imposed on by ads in books--and certainly not before the main barriers I mentioned are obviated.
In my opinion, there is no market analogous to the book market. The broadcast TV analogy doesn't work, because TV shows were not owned, reusable objects, and because TV's were reatively easy to operate, for anybody. The iPod was successful because it built on an already-existing practice of music downloading and an already-existing file format (MP3).
No similar structures are in place in the book market (and a large percentage of the people literate enought to buy and read printed books in any appreciable quantity--including those employed in the publishing industry--are at least mildly technophobic).
There are a lot of issues that need to be addressed workably, universally and permanently, before e-books gain serious acceptance.
My $0.02!
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