The current fight between book publisher Hachette and Amazon over pricing is one between a cartel (the publishers) and a monopolist (Amazon). Turns out e-books are 40% more profitable for publishers and 40% less remunerative to authors than hardcover books! Thus, it’s not surprising Amazon is squeezing Hachette over e-book pricing. The likely outcome; Hachette lowers e-book prices to make publishers, authors and retailers largely indifferent to buyer media choice.