@Steve. It's a wonderful world!
"If you want to ride a rainbow, come with me
And I will take you to the magic purple sea"
(From John Martyn's Fairy Tale Lullaby)
http://www.johnmartyn.com/lyrics/fairy-tale-lullaby/
I'll make two simple observations. Author Solutions was not about selling books. Just ripping-off Authors. Given its business model as exposed in Court it amazes me that icons of publishing such as PRH would have anything to do with it, let alone own it and expand it. Good business judgement there?
Yes. With Apple's help and a blatant disregard for the law, the Big 5 have got control of retail prices of ebooks. And, of course, they have neither the expertise nor the data to properly set such prices. So, traditional publishing continues to lose sales to Indies and self-publishing, which it seems determined to pretend does not exist.