[thedufer]

How often do you see a new hardcover of a book that's been our for more than a year or so? The surplus hardcovers historically capture is of the people who want early access - for the first month or two after publishing, only hardcovers are available. The fact that it is slightly physically superior* is only to make this early-access purchase palatable to the consumer.

If Amazon wants higher-priced ebooks to be more palatable, they should go the hardcover route. Add something to the product to make it seem better. Maybe a preface not found in print versions, maybe features that only work in ebooks - a zoomable version of the map often found at the beginning/end of fantasy books, etc.

*I'm generally of the opinion that they're actually worse - unless you're putting them on display, that's just more bulk to carry around. The number of books I've read enough times for the better binding to matter is easily single digits. And those usually end up given to friends, so I'm buying a new copy every so often anyway.