The Usability of a Book

I’m in the last few stages of This Book is About Travel with a few major decisions to be made.

The main contention point is over the notion of usability and books. As an author, I would love for everyone wanting to read the book to be able to get it into their hands and everyone starting the book to finish (and gain something from it). Traditional book publishers would say that is the job of the marketing department. All actions lead to the sale of a book, and that is where the usability of publishing seems to end. The books seems to be on an island of quality that lives in the surname of the author while the experience is an afterthought of the publishinghouse intern.

Is it the responsibility of anyone to think of the usability of a book or does the medium based in paper get a hat tip of centrism from stacks of tradition?