Yesterday, Book Expo America officially launched in Chicago. BEA is the biggest, loudest trade book show in the United States; it's when all the big publishers announce their biggest, splashiest projects and the industry looks ahead at the year to come. Publishing Perspectives just ran an overview of a report on the global state of e-books. And how are e-books doing? Not so great. In fact, the word "stalled" comes to mind. And the wide array of pricing — from $12.99 to $14.99 for many e-books at large online retailers to 99 cents for self-published titles — could be confusing matters: "the wider fear is that the advent of the paperless digital book and rock-bottom pricing has actually adjusted in the minds of reader-consumers the value of a book."