Copying books

This is all fine in the world as it exists now, but I expect that there will be a time at which paper books become obsolete.  There are lots of issues around DRM and the practicality or otherwise of ebook readers, but it seems likely that at some point in the future - and who knows when that will be - these issues will be resolved to some mutually acceptable extent.  In that world of paperless offices the business model described above breaks down, because you're no longer shipping atoms and your literary wares consist only of pure information.

Another view would be that people enjoy having books as physical items, like ornaments, and that physical objects containing or representing information will always exist.

A possible future business model for authors in a bookless, or almost bookless, world might be a charitable one.  So at the end of the book it might say something like:

    If you enjoyed this book please don't forget to donate to the author.

or

    Sponsor the sequel by donating to...

in the classic cliff-hanger style.  If a sufficient number of people liked what they'd read, and wanted to read more from the same author, then it seems quite likely that this approach might work.  Without the physical atoms, publishing middle men and negligible distribution cost popular authors might still be able to make a reasonable living.