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Originally Posted by bill_mchale
Is that $1 per book printed or sold? Also, what about shipping and warehouse costs?
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Printing costs are, in general, for paperbacks, a bit less than $1 per book. Hardcovers are more, but not a whole lot more. (Maybe $2-3 per book, maybe less.)
Shipping and warehouse costs are more, and a lot harder to estimate; that's something where volume gets cheaper. Shipping 10,000 books is cheaper per book than shipping 1,000 books; ditto for storage.
Bookstore's cost of shelf space is also part of the equation, part of the money that the store demands. Again, hard to estimate, but much, much cheaper for digital--server space costs something, but not like physical rent does. Hosting 10,000 books, even with a good search engine, is a LOT cheaper than displaying 10,000 physical books. (Plus, of course, the store needs multiple copies of the pbooks.)
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Lets keep in mind though, that you are referring to text books, which are built around facts and also generally have a much more complicated layout than the average novel. A novel doesn't need the fact checker, and frankly, when I consider the layout in some novels, modern software can do as well if not better (And perhaps for some of these books, it already is doing that role).
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Many novels could use a fact checker, or at least a runthrough to make sure there aren't any glaring errors that will cause readers to throw it at the wall or mock it in public. However, a single overview reading by a person familiar with the topic of the book could cover that; individual details don't need to be checked the way they are for textbooks. A novel set during the US Civil War should not have characters visiting a movie-house, and an editor should notice that detail. However, whether or not the coaches are described accurately is not likely to distress most readers.