Melville House Books

Barnes & Noble president William Lynch presents the Nook E-Reader at a New York press conference

From the beginning, observers have wondered about the seemingly treacherous place the country’s largest brick and mortar bookseller, Barnes & Noble, finds itself in — producing its own ebook reader (the Nook E-Reader) against the possibility that ebooks will damage the sale of print books, and even hasten the demise of brick and mortar bookstores.

It is, in fact, a question some skeptical financial analysts are asking, as, er, Randomus observes at this report from myce.com. For example, “As the math currently works, each sale through a Nook is not just unprofitable but potentially replaces a higher-margin sale at stores,” says Credit Suisse analyst Gary Balter.

But as Randomus points out, despite some questions, “It’s interesting to see that B&N, which likely accounted for the risk when it developed Nook, is willing to take a chance on the e-reader market instead of stores.”

Dennis Johnson is the founder of MobyLives, and the co-founder and co-publisher of Melville House.