Cost to print, but also cost to stock (I worked with a small publisher for years, and they had to rent a big storage facility for their stock), the cost to ship, etc.

These are marginal when selling ePub, and yet it’s still expensive in France.

Wanna know something even more stupid ?

Most of the time, you can’t buy them from out of France !

I don’t know if this is still true, but two years ago I tried to buy ePub online and couldn’t because I was not in France.

Fun fact ? I was living in the Caribbean on a French island (Guadeloupe), which is run on French laws and administration.