Figuring the cost to "print" regarding an e-book is a bit fallacious.
The print costs have already been amortized in the printing of the book whether it goes HB to PB or straight to paperback. That cost, including the art content, has already been taken care of when the book was first printed. In the case of translating it to an e-book format those costs do not really apply. The regular book is already stored by the publisher in an electronic format so converting it to a reader format would be a one time pennies on the dollar situation for each format chosen by the publisher. Once converted the storage is simply an electronic file, hardly costly to maintain.
The e-book also has costs amortized by the website normally set up for the publisher to sell their wares already. Once the website is up the maintenance costs are minimal absent repetitive hacking or loss of the original files. Can we say back up? The website costs incurred are also minimal for transmission of the book once it is selected for download. As already stated the website is part of the normal cost of business now. The internet ain't new tech here.
As for me I am looking at going with the E reader for a couple reasons but mostly because as an RVer I do not have large storage capacity for books and we do read a lot. I buy used books almost exclusively but even those prices are getting high. When you buy about 100 to 150+ books every 3 to 6 months it adds up fast. Trading helps to lower the cost but it is still steep.
The bottom line is that I am willing to pay 50% of the normal cover price for a paperback for an e-book. That's what I pay for used books now. If the price is such that it is significantly higher for me to get an e-book than a used paperback, I'll ignore e-books or borrow them from a library. I see no reason so far that a publisher cannot maintain a reasonable profit margin selling e-books for that rate.
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