This may jump the gun a little, since final decisions about book format are still a little in the air, but I wanted to share my experience with SotC.
Fred offered a paperback or hardback option and I chose the hardback one. Best decision I could have made. SotC is pretty thick for its size and I think it would have taken a beating in paperback.
Dresden seems the same way. It's full-size rather than digest-size, but at a page count of 400+ I'd say potential buyers should really consider the hardback.