High ebooks prices are mostly due to the 'agency pricing' model adopted by publishers specifically for ebooks. In a nutshell, publishers do not want retailers l

High ebooks prices are mostly due to the 'agency pricing' model adopted by publishers specifically for ebooks. In a nutshell, publishers do not want retailers like Amazon to discount ebooks too heavily and ultimately force publishers to accept lower profits. In the agency model, publishers force retailers to sell ebooks at pre-defined (and usually unjustifiably high) prices. All the large publishing houses are quite uncomfortable with the rise of ebooks because consumers expect ebooks to cost less and increased ebook adoption would mean lower profits for publishers. This article goes into more detail: http://www.teleread.com/paul-biba/why-smashwords-moved-to-agency-pricing-explained-by-mark-coker/ http://www.teleread.com/paul-biba/why-smashwords-moved-to-ag...