The equation is somewhat complex. eBooks don't cost zero to deliver. In other words, the infrastructure required to deliver them (which includes people, not ju

The equation is somewhat complex. eBooks don't cost zero to deliver. In other words, the infrastructure required to deliver them (which includes people, not just servers) at a place like Amazon isn't trivial in cost. And then there's the author's need to earn a respectable living. Obviously that equation produces different numbers based on whether the product (the book being the product) sells a thousand vs. a million copies per year. If a publisher is in the middle then they need to make money to offset their fixed and variable costs. The presumption is that they provide the author with valuable services. I've paid up to $200 for privately published eBooks on very specific subjects from authors with deep expertise in the matter. In this case the authors undertake the entire task of producing the book, often hiring people to help edit, format, illustrate, etc. I wonder how the economics of such ventures works out. In all cases the books have always been worth every penny. One of my pet peeves with Amazon is that they don't offer eBooks in PDF format. I hate the Kindle experience, even on their PC application. I far prefer PDF documents everywhere.