PG texts seem to be distributed to readers
by a number of different channels. In a sense,
PG has become the dominant wholesaler with
a number of retailers. And they also provide
direct distribution.

Source texts are provided to PG by DP (with
trivial exceptions) in two formats: plain text
and HTML. But PG and other mediators distribute
ebooks in a variety of different formats; and
given the variety of devices, readers are
requiring a number of other formats. This will
if anything be increasingly true. But all these
ebook formats must somehow be derived, through
one or more transformation processes, from one
or the other of the two originals.

Here are my naive, uninformed perceptions of
the trends of what's happening among four different
segments: Untransformed plain-text, transformed
plain-text, untransformed HTML, and transformed
HTML.

1. The number of readers who read ebooks using
the original plain-text versions, distributed
directly or indirectly, are a significant but
declining proportion of the whole.

2. The number of readers who read ebooks using
the original HTML versions, distributed
directly or indirectly, are a significant
proportion of the whole, not declining as
rapidly, but still declining (because they
require a real browser and a large-enough
screen to read them with any level of fidelity.)

3. Some proportion of readers are reading ebooks
derived from plain-text versions but transformed
using some kind of software to infer formatting.
I suspect this proportion is declining as well,
but it's hard to do and the readers are increasingly
expecting more from ebooks from their increasingly
sophisticated devices.

4. So that leaves the rest, who are reading ebooks
derived from the original HTML versions. My
suspicion is that the majority of ebooks are
already provided this way, and (especially with
the increasing acceptance of de jure and de facto
sub-html standards,) this will only increase.

How accurate is this assessment?

Based on the distribution among the quartiles,
should PG and DP make any changes in the way
ebooks are prepared and supplied?