[GA Russell]

Grisham is a lawyer, not an accountant. If his comments were made by someone who had audited Grisham's publisher, I would give them some credence.

But as it is, I'll withhold judgment until I read the observations of an auditor who has seen the books of one of the major publishers. (Fat chance!)

One other thing to consider: There is a growing demand for eBooks. Yet I contend that the public (buying or no) sees eBooks to have less value than physical objects, just as the public sees music downloads to have less value than a CD. Thus I believe that the growing demand for eBooks is dependent upon their costing less to purchase.

So whatever the publishers' fixed costs, they're squeezed by their fixed costs to produce an item the public doesn't value highly.

PS - I see that while I have been writing this post while also watching the World Series for the past half hour, Zachary has dealt with my point about the public's perception of the value of eBooks.