<p>To compare prices from across the Internet, try <a href="http://www.cheapesttextbooks.com%5B/url%5D">www.cheapesttextbooks.com</a> or <a href="http://www.bestwebbuys%5B/url%5D">www.bestwebbuys</a> (I prefer the latter). All you need is the book's title or ISBN number.</p>
<p>I don't know a lot about the business side of publishing, but wouldn't the US publishers have a much bigger investment? They have to research and read a number of proposals, pay their editors, staff, and authors, illustrators etc. and invest in the design as well as the color artwork etc. Would a reprint by an overseas publisher require any of this? (Unless it is a translation) </p>
<p>I am far from an expert in this. I do know that publishing a hardcover with good paper and color illustrations is expensive--I tried to find the numbers for a print run but could not.</p>
<p>There are many articles discussing this subject at the Chronicle. </p>
<p>Here's a recent article -available only to subscribers: <a href="http://chronicle.com/prm/weekly/v51/i41/41b00601.htm%5B/url%5D">http://chronicle.com/prm/weekly/v51/i41/41b00601.htm</a></p>
<p>In general terms, the articles cite how the business has changed since the golden years that lasted from 1980 to 2000. Articles relate how University Presses increased their output well beyond what acdamic libraries could absorb. The rise and fall of many bookstore helped to solve temporary problems, but in the end, there is only one conclusion: there is not enough interest in "scholarly" and "academic" books outside the regular captive market. </p>
<p>Some authors argue that academic books should be sold in the same manner as software, with the users paying a license fee. Worth Publishers is supposed to market a Krugman book in such new fashion. As usual, the paying users are supposed to be the students who follow the instructions of colleges and professors. The fact that the books have been marketed in a scheme requiring the recommendation of faculty but the ultimate purchase by students is also cited as a reason behind the current problems: students are no longer doing what the teacher s and publishers expect them to do. Students are no longer blindly purchasing books and are turning to the internet to find better values ranging from illegal copies to more resonably priced ones. </p>
<p>In turn the industry, facing an explosion in the second-hand market, is speeding up the revisions leading to newer editions, not so much because new material is essential but to preserve its cash cow of NEW book sales. Book publishers also add a number of toys (CDs or web access) to justify substantial increases in prices. </p>
<p>What a vicious circle: the more expensive the book become the more th ereasons to purchase second hand books; the more second hand purchases, the more expensive and frequent will the new editions be. I am afraid that the reality will hit the publishers with a vengeance, as the ways to gouge students will disappear, and that the business built on the combination of cozy package deals with faculty, poor relation to pricing, and the expectation of a silent buyers' pool will go the way of the Betamax.</p>
<p>PS International editions are published by the same "houses". They are priced cheaper to avoid the local market to turn to pirated versions. The advent of the internet brought a new twist to that equation: smart students buying the cheaper and identical versions.</p>
<p>I am not getting much clarity here. It seems that book publishers are struggling to make money in the college market. They have an overcapacity problem. Perhaps they are even subsidizing their college business with profits from the high school segment. Meanwhile, authors and employees in college textbook publishing are definitely not making out like investment bankers. Yet college students and their parents are complaining about explosive texbooks costs. So, where does the money go?</p>
<p>This may help you:</p>
<p>
[quote]
The new millennium is proving to be a testing time for academic publishers. Whereas the "long decade" from the early 1980s to 2000 was a buoyant period for many presses in the field of academic publishing, including many university presses, the period since 2001 has brought a rude awakening. </p>
<p>Growth rates of university presses have fallen to the lowest levels in many years, returns from booksellers have reached unprecedented heights, and some university presses have been faced with the prospect of imminent closure. Nor has it been plain sailing for the big college-textbook publishers. </p>
<p>Accustomed to annual growth rates of 6 percent to 8 percent, textbook publishers have suddenly found themselves faced with declining unit sales and surrounded by allegations that they are fleecing students with inflated prices.
[/quote]
</p>
<p>I'm afraid that the goose has simply stopped laying the golden eggs. This happens when your customers start READING the books and get smarter and wiser.</p>
<p>University presses and high school textbook publishers target different markets and have different degrees of profitability. University presses used to be able to count on libraries purchasing about 600 copies of a book, so they were able to print about 2,000-2,500 copies of a book. Then, a new tax law was passed which made it difficult for publishers to keep large inventories; at the same time libraries began to spend far less on new acquisitions either because of budgetary concerns or lack of space. Nowadays, it is common for print runs not to exceed 800.<br>
Young scholars are caught in a difficult bind. They need to publish, and publish for an academic audience. This means showing they'd done the research and read all the relevant theoretical literature. Some universities have told new assistant professors that they must publish via a university press; a commercial one will not do. Anyway, the kind of book that is more likely to get its author tenure is usually not attractive to commerical presses ("readers don't like footnotes"). But university presses, looking to their bottom line, have become more and more reluctant to publish first time authors. They are publishing more and more books with commerical appeal (for years, Harvard University Press'most popular book was Field Guide to the Birds; profits from it subsidized publication of more obscure monographs).
When I was in college, a book typically cost about $2.50. Today, a book that costs $25 is considered cheap, and it is able to be priced that way because the university press that published it received a hefty subsidy from its home institution.</p>
<p>I think we are confusting University Press publicatons with more mass market textbooks published by well known multinational publishers like Pearson or Houghton Mifflin. Here's a quote from the 6/17/05 edition of the Chronicle (Xiggi's link):</p>
<p>"In many ways, moving into textbook publishing would have been a less risky and more sensible strategy for academic publishers faced with declining monograph sales -- indeed, some of the British-based commercial academic publishers did exactly that. However, American university presses have been less inclined to move in that direction. Partly that is because editors at university presses have tended to understand their role as one of publishing original scholarly research, not providing pedagogical materials for higher education; the idea of publishing textbooks has seemed like a formulaic activity at odds with what they perceive to be the essence of scholarly publishing. But partly also it is because textbook publishing has been seen to be the province of the big college-textbook publishers, like the various subsidiaries of Pearson, Thomson, and McGraw-Hill, and it has been felt by many that those big players have pretty well sewn up the American market."</p>
<p>There's nothing in the article that indicates the commercial textbook publishers are struggling. And the "golden year" reference of Xiggi's was to academic publishers aka U. presses or scholarly book publishers, not textbook hacks.</p>
<p>MassDad, I had a series of links ready, but only posted one link when I realized that the Chronicle requires a subscription. With the restrictions on posting large part of copyrighted articles, I attempted to paraphase the many articles listed on the Chronicle web site. It is, however, hard to summarize the contents of fifteen to twenty articles without going in details. </p>
<p>I agree that the Academic Press discussed above are not in the same business as the larger and better known commercial publishers. </p>
<p>I apologize if my out-of-context comments added to the confusion.</p>
<p>Xiggi,</p>
<p>I suspect most people confuse academic press publications, most often by university based publishers with commercial textbook publishers. The former publish books of very narrow interest, but publish some real gems nonetheless. The latter publish more mass market stuff and flog the heck out of it - free evaluation copies to anyone who can scrape up the right letterhead, for example. And guess who pays for the free copies? </p>
<p>Xiggi, keep up the references. It keeps us on our toes.</p>
<p>The best solution is to use a price comparison service. You should be able to get a simple report of international versions, used, rental, and even e-book that lists pricing and shipping from all the online sites. Is not uncommon to get a list of more than 40 different sites and price points for one ISBN. Have you tried cheap-textbooks.com ?</p>
<p>I like dealoz.com for used books. This is a comparison site, and I think it’s really good.</p>
<p>I stay away from international editions. I really like it when I can find books that have “remainder marks.” These are new books that have been returned, so they can no longer be sold as “new.” They have lines drawn across the pages of the closed book … this doesn’t affect the inside of the book.</p>
<p>Unless my kid needs the book for the future, I sell them back on amazon.com.</p>
<p>I have gone the International Route twice. Both accounting books. Both were identical to the US versions. I planned to keep both, so reselling was not a consideration. I actually like that they are paperback - one is absolutely huge and the paperback is lighter.</p>
<p>I have an accounting prof that is involved in text book writing. He seems to think that the publishers will go more and more the E book route. I am in a tax class and the prof recommended getting the E-book. We have to use the online site for class and would have to pay for it. Getting the E book is only a little more than paying to use the site, and considerably less than buying the book (about 1/3). I generally prefer to read an actual book rather than online. But the E book makes writing notes much easier. The book is again huge so being able to read it from my netbook saves lugging it to class. And, to my surprise, you can actually print the entire book off if you want. We pay high fees to be allowed to print stuff at school, so I have been making the most of that and printing the chapters off that so that I will have a copy for later reference (the E book access expires at the end of the class, as i realized too late, with another class).</p>
<p>I also have a finance class where we use the E book.</p>
<p>So, in business at least, it does seem to be becoming fairly common.</p>
<p>Why did we pull up a 6 year old thread to talk about this? The OP must be long gone.</p>
<p>Frankly, this topic is new to me, so glad it is resurrected. I have, however, found some related info on the College Life forum.</p>
<p>Is there a list of recommended websites for finding cheap, used, rental textbooks? That would be good to have archived somewhere on this site.</p>