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Here is the bottom line as I see it. There are cost savings in ebooks over paper based books. An ebook does not have printing, paper, binding, distribution, warehousing, and overstock returns costs (typically 30% of the cost of a book). An ebook also never goes out of print, and used copies can't be resold. This savings in cost had been passed to the consumer. The authors were also benefiting, because regardless of whether a paper or ebook was sold they earned the same dollar amount per book, and since ebooks were cheaper they were selling more books. Now the publishers are requiring Amazon to sell their books at the same price as Amazon sells a typical hardcover -- a quick check Amazon's price for their top 100 books will show you that all their hardcovers are being sold for around $15. So in effect, the publishers are now taking the cost savings that had been going to consumers and authors.
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