Are you kidding me?!

Are we about to see the end of the "hardback" book? I can't believe it, but it certainly seems it is on the horizon, with the Brits leading the way.

With its creamy paper and embossed fabric covers, the hardback has always been the elite format for literary fiction.

Now Picador, an imprint of Pan MacMillan, the 8th largest publisher in the UK, which has authors such as Helen Fielding, Don DeLillo and Cormac McCarthy on its books, has called time on what it describes as "a moribund market". From next year it will launch almost every new novel as a £7.99 paperback, with other large publishers expected to follow.

With book prices soaring up near $30.00 per book, I'm sure it would be a welcome switch. Still, it seems a bit odd, a world with no hardback books.