Although parrots and eye patches CAN be a great fashion statement. Hard to get the hook-hand through airport security, though. ;-)
FWIW, I go to a number of author lectures every year, and the author always has a table of books for sale, at full price. When I do buy the book there (I usually already have it if I'm going to the lecture), I don't expect a discount -- the author had to lug them around, sign them, deal with selling them, and royalties aren't very much. If the author makes an extra buck or two on a book I enjoy, that's fabulous. Hopefully that will encourage them to write another great book for me.