I’m mystified by how often companies — usually media companies — harm themselves egregiously and never seem to correct their mistakes.

Ironically, by winning when it comes to ebook pricing, publishing seems to have hurt its ability to convince readers that print books are worth spending money on.

I don’t buy ebooks because they are far too expensive and are locked in by useless DRM. The publishers made a huge mistake and only harmed themselves by not embracing ebooks. And, by the way, they are lying about printing/binding costs being small. I am/have been acquaintances with a few people in the industry and they tell me that these costs account for more like 30-40% of the price of a hardcover, not $2. Of course, this depends on the publisher and the book. (If you disbelieve this, ask why paperbacks are generally half the price of hardcover or less. Then one should become enlightened.)

We have a monopoly disease in this country is the true diagnosis, and the pricing of ebooks is just one symptom. And publishers are the worst, because in general they are both evil and stupid — a terrible combination.