How Shortsighted the Publisher Can Be?

The publisher wanted to justify a higher price point and work backwards from that, right? So if they're going to put a $25 hardcover book on the shelf, it can't be 70 pages, right? And granted, I understand that, but it's like the spine width isn't thick enough for them to be able to write some text on it. Yet yet this is what the market is asking for, right? That kind of tells me that those people have not understood who you're selling these books to,. where they like to consume them and how they like to consumption them.