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Originally Posted by HarryT
As a former textbook author myself, I completely understand your viewpoint. The issue with textbooks is that:
1. They are EXTREMELY expensive to publish.
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They're expensive because of all that glossy paper and spot color. A simple black-and-white textbook with a few color plates where necessary would cost a lot less. You could also reduce the quality (and quantity) of artwork to a minimum necessary to get the point across. Your textbook might look like it was printed by Mother Earth News in the '70s, but it would still impart information.
At least that was the argument when I was in college. I wouldn't be surprised if a lot more went to the editor and the senior executives, though.
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2. They have a VERY limited market.
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That hasn't stopped Lulu.com and Createspace. If POD can do it, then I don't see why college textbook companies can't.
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That's why - in my student days, at least - many people bought their textbooks 2nd hand.
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Which is why textbook companies now release a new edition of each textbook every year with no meaningful changes between editions, and give kickbacks to the professors whenever they can get away with it. Some of the high school textbooks even include a rant against used books on the flyleaf- "We cut off this corner[a corner was literally chopped off the book] so you don't have to; always buy your textbooks new so we can keep our costs down and pass it on to you!" The rationale being that secondary market sales are outright theft from the author and publisher, and that "theft" was why textbooks were so expensive.
Also, nobody never seems to ask how much of the cost of the high school textbook went into tailoring it to the state board of education's religious prejudices.