Well, it wasn't today, but I bought the entire Powder Mage trilogy in hardback off Brian McClellan at a local con yesterday! It was wallet-to-wallet in the hall between panels, and as I was handing him the cash I said "I feel like I just made some sort of shady deal," to which he said something along the lines of "Yup, I'm a book dealer!" (He even brought the books in a big black duffel bag.)
This whole thing came about because I vastly prefer hardcover books, and the con only had paperback in stock. When I asked about this, he said he had a set back home he could bring for me the following day.