8 ms·

Textbooks. The market is controlled by a half dozen huge companies that charge around 10x too much because they can. I intend to tackle it one day. The biggest

by t0 13y ago

Textbooks. The market is controlled by a half dozen huge companies that charge around 10x too much because they can. I intend to tackle it one day. The biggest hurdle is actually finding instructors willing to write a textbook.

pain_perdu 13y ago
see http://www.boundless.com http://www.boundless.com
- t0 13y ago
  I've talked to these guys several times. They fail to address the exact problem I mentioned. They only have a few books, and they suck. They need to somehow find lots of teachers willing to write books.
Stwerp 13y ago
I think the question to ask is why are the professors who tackle writing these books going through such distribution chains? It is not the monetary incentive. My friends who have contributed chapters to books generally see essentially zero return from royalties when the books are printed/sold. Academics are more concerned about getting their name out (i.e. prestige). The business a professor runs is his/her name and they must market and position this well so that they get the funding and grants and the agencies recognize their name. There is nothing limiting professors currently from assembling notes into a textbook using free tools like LaTeX and putting their book on the web. Some currently do this (thank goodness!). However, putting a point on a CV that you uploaded a PDF file to your personal website versus being published by a well-known publishing firm makes a big difference. That would be the problem to tackle: assuring authors that their time will be worthwhile. The fact that a book gets through the process to be published is seen as a mark or seal of quality, whether this is in any way true or not.
- t0 13y ago
  You're absolutely right. Is there any way to solve this? I don't know that a small publisher could ever give them this recognition. Maybe find some that are interested in money versus fame?
- ibudiallo 13y ago
  I agree with you, but I wonder what makes a publisher reputable? I can't even name one out of the blue.

by t0 13y ago

pain_perdu 13y ago

see http://www.boundless.com http://www.boundless.com

t0 13y ago
I've talked to these guys several times. They fail to address the exact problem I mentioned. They only have a few books, and they suck. They need to somehow find lots of teachers willing to write books.

Stwerp 13y ago

I think the question to ask is why are the professors who tackle writing these books going through such distribution chains? It is not the monetary incentive. My friends who have contributed chapters to books generally see essentially zero return from royalties when the books are printed/sold. Academics are more concerned about getting their name out (i.e. prestige). The business a professor runs is his/her name and they must market and position this well so that they get the funding and grants and the agencies recognize their name. There is nothing limiting professors currently from assembling notes into a textbook using free tools like LaTeX and putting their book on the web. Some currently do this (thank goodness!). However, putting a point on a CV that you uploaded a PDF file to your personal website versus being published by a well-known publishing firm makes a big difference. That would be the problem to tackle: assuring authors that their time will be worthwhile. The fact that a book gets through the process to be published is seen as a mark or seal of quality, whether this is in any way true or not.

t0 13y ago
You're absolutely right. Is there any way to solve this? I don't know that a small publisher could ever give them this recognition. Maybe find some that are interested in money versus fame?
ibudiallo 13y ago
I agree with you, but I wonder what makes a publisher reputable? I can't even name one out of the blue.