@jsonbecker A large contributing factor here is the intractability of "ownership"; definitions and understandings must change because the form changed so dramatically. We don’t need to work through all of the algebra involved with the physical mass of 'own-able objects' reduced to zero and the concomitant near-zero distribution costs, but it is clear that it has upended our business, legal, and societal traditions.

Having a copy or two to lend from a local library, maybe all the local libraries in the entire nation, has yet to put a publisher or author out of business. Telling greedy know-nothing B-Ark middle-persons, "Too bad, do better marketing..." is appropriate, in my view.