@Hitch: Hi, could you elaborate on real world print costs for publishers in small, medium, large runs? The only reliable data that I can find is pricing for POD which is about $4-$6 for normalish paperbacks. That is also the surcharge many Indies charge for print books when they offer both ebook and pbook. Naturally I would not expect them to do otherwise as they are just passing on the cost to the (few?) that really really want a pbook. Only thing I remember is that big run of offset mass market paperback is around $1, and hardcover around $4. Is that still accurate today?
Highly interesting what you said about the children's books. Coincidentally I recently bought a really nice one from Goodwill for 50 cents. It looked pretty much brand new. But I wouldn't have paid list price for it, or even what Amazon wants for it (
link). To be fair, two of our grandkids really enjoyed the book and read it multiple times by themselves already (a Kindergartner and a Firstgrader). For how long it entertains the value is not there in my mind at new prices.