$20 for a hardcover? Sure thing, binding and shipping are expensive. $18 for the e-book? This is downright highway robbery.

I don’t make that much off of the hard-copies – it’s about $10 for printing (wonderful infrastructure those guys have – I ain’t complaining), and it’s about 50% profit off of the e-copies. $3 to pay for the infrastructure? Yeah, it’s “free”, but they had to design it and maintain it. I’ve been screwed worse by most companies I’ve worked for.

What gets my goat is when the latest George R. Martin e-book goes for $18 – Amazon’s still only costing $3 to supply the bloody thing, but he’s pursuing the whole “Whatever the market will bear” thing.

I suppose I shouldn’t complain; it makes my book more attractive by comparison, but it just seems greedy to me. At the end of the day Martin (or, more accurately, his publishing company) can do whatever the hell they want, but personally I plan to keep my prices reasonable.

If you like scifi, shoot me an email, I’ll send you an e-copy.