Brandon Sanderson just released the second book in his series The Stormlight Archive, Words of Radiance. Mr. Sanderson is an author who seems to Get It regarding the modern age of content. I don't know how it's working out for him financially, but I certainly hope well. He's done it again, though — Words of Radiance is available, simultaneously, in hardback, e-book, and audiobook, including e-book sales on multiple providers (e.g., Kindle, Nook, Kobo, and third-party shops) and without DRM, and audiobook sales of a similar state.
This is refreshing to see for many reasons, but let me enumerate a few. First, the e-book and the hardback book are both treated as first-class citizens; neither class of purchaser need wait for no reason. Second, the availability of e-books from multiple distributors in multiple formats is fantastic, as it avoids vendor lockdown. Third, DRM-free ensures that fans can read the book for as long as they have possession of the bits — without being tied to a provider that may disappear, change technologies, or otherwise become unreliable.
Point one is just a nice thing to do. Points two and three are much bigger. I am personally very glad to see third-party e-book vendors providing the book, because I have a healthy distrust of some first-party vendors. (*Ahem* Amazon, how about that 1984? I won't be buying e-books from them any time soon...) DRM-free is a similar story — although, fortunately, it looks like DRM-free content is slowly “winning” on a lot of fronts. When Apple chose to make the iTunes store DRM-free and forced the music distribution model, that put a lot of power into the hands of consumers.
I for one already have my DRM-free e-book ready to go (purchased from Dragonmount, and I look forward to enjoying it.