The author writes the book. Typesetting and "putting into ebook format" are a copy-and-paste affair, taking at most a day. Pirated books don't need to be printed or distributed.
Well, if you want it done poorly, sure. (And of course, you rightly avoided impugning the need for a good editor.)
To be clear, if more than one person buys the book, then the time and effort will have been repaid by more than one person. The analogy I provided doesn't actually fall down - if several people go to the cobbler to have their shoes repaired, more the good for the cobbler!
So yes, I only would pay once for the time and effort of the publisher for that book. I might buy more books from the publisher, but then that is different content.
I'm not following your reasoning as to why I or anyone else should pay the publisher more than once for the same product. Could you clarify?
Ahh, I kind of misunderstood. I got on some odd tangent about software in general (i've been arguing a piracy thread on another board recently and got the two conflated in my mind) and forgot that this was a thread about textbook shenaniganery.
Still, I rather dislike physical analogies to digital things as they're usually terribly flawed in one way or another. There is at least an argument (if not a very good or reasonable one) on the whole textbook licensing thing. There is no reasonable argument in any universe real or imagined where cobbler would charge you per step. It's reductio ad absurdum.
Edit: OMG, I really did write "every step I take"! That was a total brain fart, and not in any way what I meant to say. I have no idea why I wrote that :( A little embarassed now!