As regards technical publishing at least, you drastically overestimate the cost of printing. A $30 book costs a couple of dollars to print, depending on the siz

As regards technical publishing at least, you drastically overestimate the cost of printing. A $30 book costs a couple of dollars to print, depending on the size of the run. This is to say that removing printing from the equation has very little impact on the cost of professional book production. Editing and production are the real costs, and they're not insignificant.