Personally I dont believe its only 12 cents. According to "The Insider's Guide to Getting Published" (http://www.amazon.com/Insiders-Guide-Getting-Published-Ma

Personally I dont believe its only 12 cents. According to "The Insider's Guide to Getting Published" (http://www.amazon.com/Insiders-Guide-Getting-Published-Manuscript/dp/0385479360 http://www.amazon.com/Insiders-Guide-Getting-Published-Manus...), a book that sells for $20 costs $2 to produce. That book is a little dated (1996), but I'd be surprised if the cost structure has changed that much. The book goes on to explain why it's difficult to make money in traditional publishing, even with those margins. It appears to me that Amazon squeezes the cost of a print book and lets the publishers set the Kindle price. Not sure about the former, but the latter is definitely true: http://www.nytimes.com/2010/02/01/technology/companies/01amazonweb.html http://www.nytimes.com/2010/02/01/technology/companies/01ama...