Face it, we all spend a lot of money on publications that we read one or twice and then they sit on a self or in a box in the basement getting moldy. That's a pretty wasteful and inefficient way to do things.
Say what you want about preferring things in a hard copy format, but that's not the way younger folks are reading things. On the positive side, its never been cheaper and easier to distribute "printed" material than through the iBooks/Amazon model. There are more and more magazines available via a digital subscription and the bonus is many are very cheap that way. Same magazine, with $0 distribution and printing costs. If you subscribe to the Wall Street Journal its up to $400+ a year for a printed subscription or less than half that with a digital one that includes access to their searchable research database and archives. I predict those starting new hobby oriented publications will likely go this route, possibly even whomever buys Carstens titles.
While I'd still like a photography oriented book in Hard Copy, I'm sure I'll be in the minority at some point.