If I may expand slightly, part of what's so infuriating about all this is how many people look at Macmillan, which says "We'd like a range of $6-15, starting on the high end to coincide with hardcover releases, and then dropping as time goes on to go with the paperback release, or if you like we can cap at $9.99 and just release a while after the hardcover comes out," and immediately start screaming that the company wants to sell all books ever for $15 forever. Because, see, that's the beauty of the system if you don't want to spend $26 on a hardcover book (like I just did today) or $15 on a brand new ebook release that comes out on the same day as the hardcover.

You can wait.

And the price goes down.

Sort of like waiting for a movie to come out through Netflix instead of seeing it in theater. Less money for less rushed service! It's almost like getting free shipping if you're willing to wait several days for the package, instead of paying more for second-day air!

Macmillan actually proposed a pricing model that would give the authors a greater cut than they already have. And is actively discussing ways to raise the royalties that authors get on ebooks, above current admittedly dreadful industry standard.

But god knows it's a crime for people to not be able to get the lowest possible price on every single book in all formats the instant it's released.