[Tomsdad]

Yes I started treating my copy of martial arts a lot more carefully, when i found out how much it would cost to replace it.

Still even if SJGames doesn't go directly to POD, POD is becoming more and more ubiquitous so that going to 3rd party will not be an issue. I've used Lulu quite happily for this in the past for other stuff.

While I prefer physical copies of stuff to PDF I think dead tree is on the way out, and thus so are FLGS and physical shelves acting as advertising space.

However that said I do think that as the pdfs become the standard isolated internet stores like e23 are less fit for purpose. As drivethru etc are now the department stores / Amazon of the RPG pdf market.

It's kind of an example of earlier adopter syndrome. e23 was IIRC one of the first proper places where you get RPGs in PDF and was thus ahead of the game when it came to offering stuff electronically, and it still is a really good store for buying stuff I already know about. But it hasn't rally kept up with changes in the market.

So I think you'll just hear "I can't see GURPS at Drivethru is it dead?" rather than "I can't see GURPS hardbacks on the FLGS shelf, is it dead?"

Ultimately the business choices behind e23 are what they are, I don't know if the decision is to try and directly compete or to actively keep separate to maintain market placement (or just to recoup cost of e23 development) or something else entirely. But I think the comparison to Amazon is fitting.