I hope more ebook publishers (both individuals and companies) look at this. There are too many outlets that think they can sell a file for most of the price of a physical book - usually the same outlets that have been blaming their price hikes on the rising cost of paper for the last 30 years.
The last time I saw this discussion go around the SF blogosphere, people close to the industry said that very little of the cost of a book is actually tied up in the marginal cost of paper and shipping; most of it is overhead associated with running a publishing company that can’t be economized away by switching to e-books.
On the other hand, Kristine Kathryn Rusch said that one reason the overhead is so high is that publishers locked themselves into long-term contracts for things like Manhattan editorial offices and printers’ services, so they can’t reduce their overheads until those contracts expire.
I'm particularly thinking of niche and hobby presses that don't have Manhattan offices. Some of them have tried to straight-up sell ebooks at paper prices.
