[Mare of Earth]

This has come up in many different posts of late, but I have not seen a realy clear answer on it, so I thought I would ask the community at large, and try to develop a clear answer.

Exactly what is the cost breakdown between hardcover vs. ebook vs. paperback (vs. trade paperback).

Looking for:
cost per unit breakdown
Author Royalty
Publisher production cost
Publisher profit
Bookseller cost
Bookseller profit
and the difference between the various publishers.

I am very curious about this, as recently I wanted to pick up an ebook copy of Foundation by Mercedes Lackey. An ebook copy costs about $19.00, vs. the local Books a Million had the hardcover marked down to $6. Often, the ebook copy costs more than the paperback copy - with the exception of Baen ebooks. I want to know why the ebook costs so much more, and I want to know how much of the purchase price gets back to the author.

Also, if anyone knows how to contact publishers to get this information, post it here!

Mare