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Here's something that's sure to be an unpopular alternate view...
(This is just exploring the implications, not saying this means the fee structure is correct.)
We know that the big name authors will sell, so what we are talking about here are the unknown authors. As mentioned above, quality is also unknown. I don't know what kind of screening there is for quality. Surely at Amazon they will sell anything that gets to print, won't they?
But here's the observation... The higher the cost, the higher the quality or more interesting the submissions. My reasoning is that the author of absolute junk is unlikely to want to spend the $200 entrance fee. (Well, unless they depend on misleading the reader with a great cover and title and blurb about the book, I suppose. I hadn't thought about the ramifications of how consumers may buy stuff without checking reviews or sample text from other sites.)
But my point is that with a cost to get into the store, people will only "pony up" if they have reasonable expectations that the book will sell.
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