Gonoahhh and I were just discussing this a couple weeks with regard to the book - The Winchester Model 52: Perfection in Design by Houze
It's another one that is highly specialized about a subject that only us
old farts distinguished gentlemen of chronological maturity appreciate. Not to say there isn't some 22 year old out there that doesn't yearn for knowledge on Win 52/54 but we're more likely the target of such books. Without us purchasing them occasionally it will be unlikely that they will ever get written or published by a publishing house with the quality standards that such a book likely deserves. That there are hard cover and soft cover versions is nice and the copy of the Roger Rule book I have is softcover and wasn't exorbitant in price.
I don't know where physical book publishing is going. Increasingly it's e-books and I'll admit I'm as guilty as others when it comes to the latest favorite author detective or thriller ending up on my iPad. Perhaps these books will only be published by specialty presses like Safari Press or others. I just bought both volumes of an aviation topic published by
Ginter Press that's a well known for publishing obscure Aviation books. I did a lot of flying in support of and served in one of the squadrons covered so it was worth it to me. Ginter seems to be doing OK with their narrow subject line but it is also likely not going to continue past the lifespan of the founder who has passion for the subject.
Spoiler alert - I compromised on the model 52 book and bought a used hard copy (happy birthday to me) and perhaps by buying a hard copy the publisher is tracking that used price and will eventually print more copies at a price less than $300 for new hardback.