Fiction authors don't understand basic economics

What “should” e-books cost? NYT ponders this:

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/02/11/technology/11reader.html?hpw

 

This article contains this absolutely marvelous quote:

 

“The sense of entitlement of the American consumer is absolutely astonishing,” said Douglas Preston, whose novel “Impact” reached as high as No. 4 on The New York Times’s hardcover fiction best-seller list earlier this month. “It’s the Wal-Mart mentality, which in my view is very unhealthy for our country. It’s this notion of not wanting to pay the real price of something.”

 

Economist Tyler Cowen wrote “I giggled when I read that.”  (http://www.marginalrevolution.com/marginalrevolution/2010/02/sentences-to-ponder.html#comments )

 

It’s hard not to giggle. Preston talks about the entitlement of others, and then goes on to talk about the “real price” of books.

"real price" doesn't mean much in economics, and even less in marketing.

"real price" seems more like some moral concept, arising out of religious beliefs. Good luck trying religious arguments with Jeff Bezos of Amazon.