It depends on the publisher. I've seen ebooks cost lsee, more or the same as the print book. But let's look at my book as an example http://www.manning.com/kawalerowicz/. The print book is 49.99. The ebook (pdf, ebook, kindle) is 34.99. But, if you buy the print book, the ebook is free.

OReilly does things differently. Looking at a very popular book there, Head First Design Patterns. http://oreilly.com/catalog/9780596007126/ Print is 44.95. Ebook (Daisy, pdf) is 35.99. Print and ebook combo is 49.45.

One thing I've found is that very few tech publishers sell the ebook through normal channels (Amazon, B&N). You typically have to buy ebooks directly from the publisher.

Some people say that the price of the ebook should be a fraction of the price of the print book because they don't have to pay for paper, printing, shipping, etc. But those are really a small cost in producing a book. Publishers need to pay for authors, copy editors, tech editors, layout, office people, etc. and those costs are significant. Until someone goes through the publishing process with a major publishers, they have no idea what is involved.

There will always be a place for lulu and other self-publishing sites, but my experience is that the quality of books from actual publishers is far better than almost everything coming from self publishing.

>Do any of the ebook sources not charge you a large percentage of the price of a printed book for the ebook?
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>For some reason I though ebooks might be a real savings over printed books, but it certainly doesn't seem so.
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>I loaded the kindle reader on my WP7 phone yesterday just to see what was available. the reader is OK I guess, but looking at prices for books I was pretty disappointed. Maybe it's because I'm just a cheap b@sturd and usually buy off the clearance or used book racks anyway..