A cool organization working to fight the ever rising cost of textbooks March 12, 2009
Posted by Eugene Aronsky in Interns, Kyle Schiller, We Compare Books, books, bookstores, college bookstores, education, financial aid, international editions, new books, publishers, textbook publishers, textbooks, used books.Tags: cheap books, compare prices on books, compare prices on textbooks, textbooks
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If you are in college already you know the cost of textbooks can be quite outrageous. Each year they seem to get more and more expensive, and the textbook companies continue to introduce superfluous new editions that really don’t change that much.
There is one group (I mean there is one group besides We Compare Books) – or rather a collection of groups – that is trying to “fight against the machine”, http://www.maketextbooksaffordable.com. This site is dedicated to addressing the problem of escalating textbook costs and advocating solutions. They are a collection of student PIRGs (Public Interest Research Groups) from across the nation that want to address the concern of ever rising textbook costs. Their preamble reads:
“The cost of college textbooks has become a major affordability issue for low and middle income students, adding to the potential that these students will either drop out, take on additional loan debt to pay for textbooks, or undercut their own learning by forgoing the purchase of textbooks.
Textbook publishers have not responded adequately to these concerns, but have continued to exacerbate this problem by raising prices and employing practices such as unnecessarily issuing new editions of textbooks.
Faculty and students both share a concern about textbook affordability and its impact on student success.
We must address this problem without undermining the academic freedom of faculty to choose course content.”
Their website is full of useful information about why the textbook industry is broken, how it takes advantage of students, and what students can do to educate themselves and try to fight back. They also have a sign-up page where you can add your signature to the cause to increase their numbers and influence. I definitely recommend every student check it out.
National Public Radio talks about rising costs of textbooks November 20, 2008
Posted by Eugene Aronsky in National Public Radio (NPR), textbook publishers.Tags: marketplace, NPR, textbook prices
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Here is another interesting story that I found on marketplace.org that discovers the rising cost of textbooks. I found this story particularly interesting because it talks about the reason that textbook prices are rising, and interviews a publishing executive. Very enlightening.
The down and dirty on textbook publishers July 17, 2008
Posted by Eugene Aronsky in textbook publishers, textbooks, used books.add a comment
The way that the publishing business works has changed much since the early days of the Internet. The way that it used to work was that textbooks were more affordable, and since the used book market was very private, publishers were content with their profit margin. It is important to note here that publishers profit only from the sale of a new book; when a used book is sold and resold the original publisher of the book does not see a cent of the money generated. In the case where a bookstore sells used books, the bookstore gets the profit from the sale of the used book but has to buy it from someone. In the case of college bookstores, they have a constant supply of books since every year students graduate and want to get rid of their textbooks. On the other hand, whenever you purchase a book from certain sites online, the profit from the sale goes to the person selling the book, most likely another student.
As the used textbooks market developed with the rise of the Internet, and students were finally able to take control of the used book market by being able to sell their books online, publishers realized that fewer people were buying new textbooks. The solution that publishers devised was to put out a greater number of new editions or to put out new editions more often. It is important to note that many changing or rapidly evolving subjects such as computer science or biology require a new edition to be released yearly because the field changes constantly, but many other subjects such as literature, philosophy, and even business, in other words subjects that are not in a state of great flux and do not change rapidly do not require frequent edition updates. I can recall an ancient history class I took as a sophomore where the textbook that was available at the bookstore was the latest edition, and cost $80. Since I was fairly confident that ancient Greek history had not seen any major changes in the past few years I purchased an older edition online, saving $60 in the process, and had no problem keeping up the pace with other students of the class.
What many publishers do these days is that they put out a new edition regardless of whether or not any changes were actually made to the content of the book. If no changes were made than what they do is they will move around chapters, or maybe change a few chapter titles. The other strategy that publishers have developed is to include a CD or DVD with the textbook. This is seen as increasing the value of the book; however what they fail to tell you is that most, if not all, of the information on the CD/DVD is available on the publisher’s website for free, plus I have yet to meet a teacher who puts these CDs to good use.
The advice that I would offer students is to buy used and buy old editions whenever possible, and if you want to shop online I recommend you use a book price comparison website, in order to make sure that the price you are getting is the best one. In general, you should not stray further than 2 editions prior to the current one. If you are unsure as to an older edition of a textbook, I would advise that you consult with your professor, many are starting to come to the realization that books are putting a real economic strain on students and are starting to care, so they may be able to help.
