Causes and Solutions to teh High Cost of College Textbooks (standard:Editorials, 1690 words)
Author: Victor D. Lopez	Added: Jun 21 2013	Views/Reads: 3052/1897	Story vote: 0.00 (0 votes)
This brief article deals with some of the root causes that have resulted in college textbooks that can be higher than $200. Despite severe shake-ups in the industry and attrition over the past two decades, the cost of college textbooks keeps increasing an

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representatives with whom I deal on a regular basis (like it or not). 
They are helpful, competent, and they make my life easier when I am 
actually looking to change textbooks in the classes I teach. They are 
very good at doing their job. Unfortunately, doing their job requires 
the cost of textbooks to remain as high as it is in no small part 
because of the inherent expense of marketing textbooks under the 
traditional model. 

Alternatives do exist today, but they cannot thrive under the shadow of
the massive marketing forces marshaled by the traditional publishers. 
I'll offer my own textbooks as a limited case study because I think 
they help prove my point. My first textbook, Business Law: an 
Introduction, was published in 1992 (with a 1993 copyright) by 
Irwin/Mirror Press. When Irwin was acquired by McGraw-Hill, the book 
was published by the new imprint for a number of years, even though it 
directly competed with one of its well-established titles, no doubt in 
part because of  loyal adopters who simply refused to switch to the new 
titles pushed by the new sales reps. The book was adopted by more than 
100 colleges in 37 states in the three years that it was actively 
marketed by Irwin/Mirror Press. It did relatively well and developed a 
loyal following. This year, a new updated and expanded version of the 
book was released by my new publisher, Textbook Media 
(http://www.textbookmedia.com). My new publisher markets its textbooks 
in a very different manner through direct mail and perhaps some email 
marketing. Despite the fact that the book is better than the original 
and its soft-cover version sells for about one-fourth the price of the 
original hard cover retail price in today's dollars (and is also 
available for as little as $9.95 in iPhone, online versions eBook 
versions), adopters are not beating a path to my publisher's door for 
one very simple reason: the vast majority of past adopters and 
prospective new adopters have no idea that the book is once again 
available in print. The exact same thing is true of my "Business Law 
and the Legal Environment of Business 2e" released last year which is 
very slowly finding its market. A $200 business law book can support 
armies of sales people to push it; a $35 book simply cannot. That price 
point is dependent upon word of mouth and a limited direct mail 
campaign that cannot compete with the constant, direct, one-on-one 
marketing that the few remaining textbook publishing houses continue to 
employ to market their very expensive titles. 

If we really want less expensive college textbooks, we all have to be
more open to looking at non traditional sources, be they open textbooks 
where available, or textbooks from non-traditional publishers. The 
advent of inexpensive sources for self-publishing textbooks should also 
be explored, and universities and accrediting agencies need to be more 
open to the value that these sources can represent not only in terms of 
cheaper, more accessible textbooks for students but just as importantly 
a less restricted and more open avenue for content experts to share 
their expertise unbridled from the constraints of what will meet the 
norms of the traditional publishers (read: must not compete with 
current leading titles by that publisher and must provide the potential 
for very significant new sales to justify the development costs and 
risk of a new textbook launch). A faculty member may not be willing to 
spend three to five years to research, write, and revise a 45 chapter 
textbook, but 45 content experts from various universities would be 
much more likely to sign on to write one or more chapters in a 
collaborative venture. No publisher will coordinate this; it is up to 
us, the faculty, to do so. But universities and the government (both 
state and federal) could help by providing seed money, research grants 
or resources to both facilitate and promote such projects. 

And students should also get involved in the process. Faculty select
books, but that does not mean that students cannot make their concerns 
known about their cost known to their professors and the 
administrations of the colleges and universities they attend. 

Finally, we need to recognize that low price alone is never a good
measure of good value, let alone of quality. But neither is high price. 
As a faculty member, administrator or student, you can help lower the 
overall costs of college textbooks by focusing on the issue and making 
sure that your voice is heard. And as a faculty member or student, if 
you find a good product at a low-cost, make sure that others know about 
it. Publicize sites that offer new and used textbooks at the lowest 
cost; let others know if you find a good textbook exchange program for 
used books at your university so that it can be duplicated elsewhere; 
insist that your university provide you with a complete list of 
textbooks for all of your classes with enough lead time so that you can 
find the lowest cost options, new and used, on your own. And ask your 
professors when a new edition of a book comes out whether you can still 
use the old edition. Sometimes new editions contain only cosmetic 
changes--your professor will know if that is the case, and being able 
to use a prior edition of a book can save you a lot of money. But be 
careful: old editions are useless if a professor won't allow you to use 
it--or if it contains dated, incorrect information. With textbooks as 
will all products, be a good consumer. You will be happier--and 
wealthier (or at least less poor)--for it, and it is a lesson that 
translates well to life and work in general. 

[Note: This article originally appeared in the author's personal web
page in 2011 -- Little has changed since then as regards this issue.]


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