Except, the most significant layout and typography issues involved in book design and usability have been studied. A basic example would be in the use of fully justified text versus ragged right: http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1286700 .. that topic not scream "design" to you, but it's all part of producing a high quality book. So are choosing the right typeface(s), the right text size(s), page layout, and more.
Authors and book designers who have high production values aren't all arty-farty designers who just want things to look cool. To many, just getting it right objectively (versus the subjectiveness of design as "art") is important, and there are ways and means of doing that. For example, the average Edward Tufte book shows a high level of attention to detail in matters of underlying design and usability, rather than pure aesthetics.
Authors and book designers who have high production values aren't all arty-farty designers who just want things to look cool. To many, just getting it right objectively (versus the subjectiveness of design as "art") is important, and there are ways and means of doing that. For example, the average Edward Tufte book shows a high level of attention to detail in matters of underlying design and usability, rather than pure aesthetics.
Readers should care about book formatting and design at a basic usability and readability level. You might not want pompously "designed" books, sure, but having easily read type in a usable layout is paramount (in the sense that a Web surfer wouldn't like to read beige text on a yellow background). Sadly, it seems not to be as big an issue as it could be as the jaw-droppingly bad typography on the Kindle demonstrates: http://redubllc.com/2009/01/a-typographic-critique-of-the-ki... - http://qwan.org/2009/05/17/kindle-typography-goes-craptacula... - http://www.teleread.org/2009/05/05/kindle-page-layout-and-ty... (and oh so many more)