James Deckert of Collectors Pair-of-Dice in Salina, Kansas saw our article on the DC Archives price promotion (see 'DC To Offer Batman Archives #1 at $19.95'), and sent us this comment on DC's strategy of publishing Archives only in hardcover format.
I don't know what focus groups and surveys Mr. Wayne has been conducting, but in a town of 40,000 I had three different people this past Saturday, at different times, bemoaning the cost of DC's Archives and how they would buy them if they were cheaper or in a paperback format. They were much more interested in cost than the high quality paper (etc.) which the original comic wasn't designed for anyway.
I carry a large number of DC Archives (31 are on my shelf now) and they mostly sit on the shelf looking pretty.
I would like to personally own many more of the Archives but even with the discount I get, I still can't afford to buy all of them I want.