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The problem is that the e-books are being sucked up into a model that is designed for shipping paper products. This model incurs a lot of overhead because it is working with physical materials and that means lots of labor and retail/storage space so naturally the cost is spread out over all the products. Manufactures don’t decide what each product should cost based on how much is costs to make them they decide what the cost based on what they can get for them. When was the last time you saw an older person sell their home for a little more than they paid for in 1935 because that was fare? They will point out that they incur additional costs with the formatting and venders that they didn’t have before those crazy-newfangled e-books. Publishers see e-books as a threat because they undercut the price of their money makers, the hardcover.
The reality is that e-books have very little overhead associated because they are just data. As a weenie author (Indie) I have experience first hand with this sort of thing. Basic copy editing will probably cost between $600-$2,000… cover art also depends on who you get but you can have something decent for about $500. Keep in mind that I don’t pay any of these people’s social security or medical insurance. I can do the conversion but I don’t have a lawyer on retainer or anything like that and since I work from home I don’t pay for an office. So my costs are minimal.
The real costs of an e-book in a professional publishing environment can only be determined if we have a company that only puts out an e-book version and maybe offers a print-on-demand option. Then all of the old crap won’t be in the system to confuse the issue.
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