01-07-2011, 10:38 AM | #46 | |
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01-07-2011, 10:44 AM | #47 | |
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http://www.nytimes.com/2010/03/01/bu.../01ebooks.html General interest is clearly going to be different than K-12 education which is different than higher education. However it's entirely plausible that the higher education market may be more predictable than general interest, which would reduce returns and other costs. There are a lot of things I don't know about the ins and outs of higher ed textbooks. That said I'd be downright stunned if 50% of the cost of a $150 science textbook was just printing and distribution. |
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01-07-2011, 11:29 AM | #48 |
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Well, I found what I presume is a reliable window into the nature of texbook pricing.... Namely the US Department of Education.
http://www2.ed.gov/about/bdscomm/lis...xtbkstudy.html I haven't gone over all the materials yet, so I'll reserve comment. For the moment. On a side note, it is worth considering that this issue runs the risk of a "penny wise, pound foolish" mentality. For example, if your books cost $500 for the Fall semester, and $600 in the Spring semester, you'd notice immediately and react. If your tuition went from $9,826 for Fall to $9,926 -- or, if the cost of textbooks were included in your tuition -- you might not even notice, despite the fact you are out of pocket by the same amount. (Numerous studies indicate this kind of behavior is typical, btw.) |
01-07-2011, 12:43 PM | #49 |
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Why not? One of the nice things about physics is that it doesn't change. We do keep learning more and more, so some of the upper level physics classes and more specific classes need to have constantly upgraded texts, but I know from my school most of the 100 and 200 level classes would not need new books every year or two and those are the classes that have the most students in them. By locking down those books (and similar 100-200 level textbooks) the strain of paying for textbooks could be greatly reduced for many students.
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01-07-2011, 01:39 PM | #50 | ||
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On one hand, stretching out intro level textbooks to, say, update every 4 years instead of 2 would help somewhat. It would reduce selected costs and extend the lifespan of the used market. Great, right? However, the latter in turn may be counter-productive. It will still cost a significant amount to produce that new textbook every 4 years; the publishers realize they'll make the most money in the first year, and sales will drop off significantly in subsequent years as students resell the books. As such, the publishers may decide to actually charge more for new, because they know the book will produce lower revenues in subsequent years. To me, the best fixes I've heard so far are including textbook costs in tuition. This offers several benefits: - It ends the "penny wise, pound foolish" error - It encourages the school to keep costs down, because they're basically paying for the books now - It may be easier to finance the book costs, since it will be included in tuition However, in the same way that I don't believe this issue has one single cause, I don't believe it will have one single (let alone simple) fix. |
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01-07-2011, 05:44 PM | #51 | |
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That article doesn't state the print run size for the stated costs. I imagine a percentage, and proportional copy editing/etc prices would vary drastically between Harry Potter numbers, and a graduate level archeology textbook. Without some sort of volume to relate the costs to, it's pretty worthless as a citation. Got anything else from your numerous sources? |
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01-07-2011, 06:24 PM | #52 |
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In my experience, the actual information is easy to duplicate, but the practice and work information is what you are unable to duplicate. I have two editions of a Calc book, because my school breaks Calculus up into two semesters, and the teachers I had for the fall semester used the older book, where as the teacher I had for the second semester in the spring had already switched over to the brand new just released edition. The Units, Chapters, and Sections were all the same, but the practice work at the end of each section had changed (and were the only changes). I couldn't use the old book, because I had to have the information out of the new edition for homework, and I couldn't sell the old book because no one wanted it because everyone was stuck in that situation. $140 was what each book cost.
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01-07-2011, 09:26 PM | #53 |
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01-08-2011, 12:46 AM | #54 | |
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The problem is that non-DRM'ed e-books are trivially easy to copy, while paper books aren't. This makes it very tempting for publishers to stick with paper books, and resist converting paper to e-books with all their might. The more piracy they see, the more likely they are to say, "Screw it!" and go back to paper-only (especially when, on top of that, people are saying that the e-book version of the books are worth less than the paper versions). Having a book "expire" (except for lending purposes) is an unconscionable solution, but it makes good sense to me that they'd want to make sure (unless it's being lent) that the person who has the file is the person who bought it. |
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01-08-2011, 03:48 AM | #55 |
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In today's book market it's all about exposure. There are very few authors that don't need it (any more), so this model might not work as good for them. The likes of Clancy or King are clearly in the minority, though.
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01-08-2011, 07:26 AM | #56 | |
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Natascha Kampusch's "3096 Days" (the Austrian girl who was kidnapped and held captive for 3096 days) was a bestseller in Germany last year. The publisher didn't publish it as an ebook and guess what happened? The book was available as epub all over the net. The same seems to happen with scientific textbooks. |
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01-08-2011, 10:10 AM | #57 |
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01-08-2011, 11:17 AM | #58 | |
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01-09-2011, 11:58 AM | #59 | |
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01-10-2011, 10:01 PM | #60 | |
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drm, ebooks, textbooks, university policy |
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