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HankronA practical condition that potential publishers/writers should take into account is that not everyone is willing to pay the same amount for the book. There are different thresholds where the book price is more than a person is willing to pay. For every person who is willing to pay $40 for the T206 book, there will be a more casual reader who's threshold price is $10. Meaning, the second person will say, "I'll buy it for $10, but I'm really so interested in it that I will pay $30. I'd rather save the money for 1956 Topps cards."
The practical point is that if a new writer/publisher is gung ho and 'just has to have' the book hard cover and in full color and all the bells and whistles, the book is going to cost, for example, $30 each to make. The effect of this is that the writer/publisher has, off the bat, lopped off at least half of his potential buyers .... While making a smaller, softcover, black & white book is often initially unappealing to the writer/publisher, the book will cost perhaps $5 to make and he can sell it to everyone who wants it.
Last point is that most readers are ignorant to the cost of producing a book, especially a color versus black and white book. The person who complains that that $9.99 book is not in color, is often the person who complains that the second in-color edition costs $30.