What is the Future of Book Publishing?

Hi
There has been much discussion lately about ebooks, digital this and that and the predicted demise of the printed book. Discussion is a good thing.
A few headaches, groans and two e-book readers and two Android PC tablets later, I am beginning to understand some of the difficulties and joys of digitalisation.
The Guardian has a great books section for adults and younger readers.
This includes podcasts on a variety of topics.
Last night I listened to a podcast which consisted of a series of interviews done at the Book Tomorrow conference in Milan. I can highly recommend it as good thinking material.
There were some ideas presented that I hadn't considered before, such as -
What will happen to the relationship between writer and reader if there are no longer occasions such as book signings?
Will we still have the same archival material if we simply delete emails and no longer keep paper copies? (mind you, it's good for trees)
And the one comment that made me smile knowingly. Someone expressed the view that they were disappointed that there weren't more authors present. The audience was mostly publishers and editors.
I can answer that one. They couldn't afford it.
Authors don't have a budget like employees of publishing houses.
Besides, the authors were probably home writing.
Or getting headaches trying to work out their new electronic devices and wishing they were writing.

Happy writing (and reading),
Christine