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Economics
---There is no reason in the world for a widely used textbook to
cost $75 - $100 or more, other than the fact that it is required
reading for a certain course and the publisher chooses to charge
as much as he can - and then some.---

Honestly, it depends on the book. I'm in the industry. There are
some books that are, as you say, widespread, and due to their
enormous sales levels, there's no reason why they should cost
what they cost. However, there are a great number of textbooks
that address smaller subjects with smaller audiences. To be able
to publish such a textbook, you're dealing with an economy of
scale--if you're only going to sell 2000 copies of a big,
expensive to produce, color book, you need to charge enough to
cover your own costs and to be able to pay your employees (and
hopefully make a decent profit). So don't lump all textbook
publishers under one roof. There are big heartless corporations
that are indeed gouging you, but there are also smaller
university presses that often lose money in order to produce
books that are needed by academic communities.
Posted by: tic swayback   Posted on: 09/28/05 You are currently: a Guest | Members login | Terms of Use
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This kind of Open Source activity  bjbrock | 09/28/05
Open Source is only a check and balance.  nucrash | 09/28/05
Well  bjbrock | 09/28/05
Viability and Authenticity?  putchavn | 09/28/05
I like to think formyself and hope I can  bjbrock | 09/28/05
World doesn't work that way, especially in the sciences  CobraA1 | 09/28/05
Oh Please...  nucrash | 09/28/05
Now to be serious  nucrash | 09/28/05
That is exactly how it works!!!  bjbrock | 09/28/05
Scientific truth is not so flexible  tic swayback | 09/28/05
We can teach those viewpoints  nucrash | 09/28/05
Again,how much time do you have?  tic swayback | 09/28/05
Time for a lesson in FSM  nucrash | 09/28/05
Ah, a fellow Pastafarian  tic swayback | 09/28/05
There is a difference between a Viewpoint and a Fact  Ludovit | 09/28/05
Viewpoints become facts everyday.  bjbrock | 09/28/05
But we don't teach them until they become provable facts  tic swayback | 09/28/05
Only when they are true  CobraA1 | 09/29/05
re: There is a difference between a Viewpoint and a Fact  richdave | 12/08/05
sorry  CobraA1 | 09/29/05
re: sorry  richdave | 12/08/05
Answer Benefacto  Ludovit | 09/28/05
Wikibooks and Quality  dhopp@... | 09/28/05
Why does everything have to be free in cost?  osreinstall | 09/28/05
Why is the profit motive the only "sustainable" motive?  Judas I. | 09/28/05
You have to make money to go on.  osreinstall | 09/28/05
So, the authors of Debian and FreeBSD aren't eating?  Judas I. | 09/28/05
They are, but not on good china.  osreinstall | 09/28/05
All I can say is "Huh?" Don't even understand half of your post.  Judas I. | 09/28/05
Here goes  osreinstall | 09/28/05
osreinstall: Ah! Okay ... better ...  Judas I. | 09/28/05
But, for textbooks, I have to agree with tic.  Judas I. | 09/28/05
I agree with him too mostly.  osreinstall | 09/28/05
Has same problems as wikipedia  CobraA1 | 09/28/05
Free books?  Protector | 09/28/05
Not Free, but reasonable  Otto_Delete | 09/28/05
You are not even close  osreinstall | 09/28/05
Economics  tic swayback | 09/28/05
Interesting concept  tic swayback | 09/28/05

What do you think?

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