The book publishing process - why does it cost so much?

In a three part series, Dave Young provides a nice explanation of the book publishing process starting from the idea for a book to the point of sale, pointing out the parts which entail costs.

In the first part, he looks at the different options for an author to get his book published - sell the manuscript to a traditional publisher, use a vanity press, work with a print-on-demand publisher, or print and sell it yourself.

In the second part, he looks at the fixed costs involved covering the editorial, design and layout aspects and in the final part, he looks at the variable costs involved to print the book, distribute it and deal with returns.