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For the books that I'm looking for, I've found that generally the Sony store has them for a few bucks more than the Kindle store (so 11.99/12.99). Of course, there are exceptions, like the Carl Hiassen book listed above, or Stephen King's The Stand. Thankfully, those tend to be the exceptions, not the rule.
Also, I've also found that if I dig around a little, I can get some pretty good prices on other sites, like Books on Board or WHSmith. Actually, I picked up quite a few decent deals thanks to WHSmith's 25% off sale. You can get a number of ePUBs for ~$9.50 after conversion and fees -- even better than the Amazon price! Sadly they don't have any Carl Hiassen available. But still, not a bad place to look.
As for publishers having fewer costs when dealing with ebooks, you also need to look at the extra costs incurred (well, if they do it properly at least). Sure, they'll save a small amount on not printing, but they'll instead need to have someone handle the layout/formatting of the ebook, and then have another round or two of proofs of that. The layout/formatting does require a different skillset than what most print layout people will have, so it's not like they can just reassign someone over to that (of course, they may have someone eager to learn and do the job). So that's likely added cost. And for something that will maybe sell a few hundred to a few thousand copies, that's quite a bit of cost for such low return. Not saying it's right or that the publishers don't need to adjust with the times. Just looking at the situation from the other side.
And yes, the Kindle prices are cheaper because Amazon takes the loss in order to promote the Kindle. Don't expect this situation to be this way forever.
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