[Rich Ives]

"Using your (ahem) logic, a Lexus should be priced at $5,000."

I don't think so. (For one thing, they cost more than that to make and no one still in business is that stupid.)

To increase sales you can increase the desire to own one (marketing) or lower the price, or both.

If there are sufficient alternatives, and/or the alternatives serve the purpose of most, then you must really hit the marketing hard to get enough people convinced to buy your product versus the alternative.

BUT, you must, in the long run, recover your costs and make a profit.

Costs for a book include, of course, a writer's royalty which includes a minimum guarantee. Per unit printing costs will vary by the quantity ordered (sales volume). Then you have advertising and distribution costs. You still have to determine how many you have to sell at various price/cost combinations to meet your objectives.

In the current environment, too high a cost for the book will lead to illegal copying, rather than sales, just as the music and movie business has discovered.

So, MR. Marketing Man, how do you convince a pile of people to buy ANY book on the rules? How do you convince them that a JEA at $199 is significantly enough better than J/R or BRD at their prices to get them to buy it?

You will convince some. You won't convince most. Will the "some" quantity of buyers make the effort worth it, or do you need to drop the price to $39.95?