3 ms·
That's good in theory, but what currently happens is a professor takes a fully paid sabbatical and writes the book for a publishing company. That company sells
by wedowhatwedo 9y ago
That's good in theory, but what currently happens is a professor takes a fully paid sabbatical and writes the book for a publishing company. That company sells the book to students for $300 a copy and pays the professor $50 a copy (with a possible sizable amount up front). The professor and friends of the professor requires it for their classes.
The friction that prevents your plan from happening is that the professors won't do it for so cheap. There is a ton of money they can make under the current system.
- walterbell 9y agoCan the University press offer a similar deal to their employee/professor, undercut the commercial publisher, save the student money and still profit?
- wedowhatwedo 9y agoIt's possible but what happens often now is the professor is getting paid twice. Paid sabbatical and bonus money for the book. If the University was doing it, they wouldn't pay a person twice for one job. At least that's how my university would view it. Also, I'm not sure if a professor gets much credit from the University toward tenure for writing a book. Because of this, if there is no money involved, I doubt many professor's would do it. They do it for the money only right now.
- njarboe 9y agoOne professor I work with has produced a textbook for a class she teaches [1] and it is only $60. Some professors are interested in the subject they teach and research. Having a good textbook for your students that you control the content of is great. She produced it in LaTeX and keeps an updated version online. Professors give away their publications to journals all the time so I don't think them holding out for a big paycheck is the reason books don't get produced. [1] https://www.ucpress.edu/ebook.php?isbn=9780520946378 https://www.ucpress.edu/ebook.php?isbn=9780520946378