So my clinical psych class has a book that I got an eBook for, which I like because a) it’s cheaper and b) I could access it immediately and so I’ve been getting ahead. But it’s starting to occur to me that I’ve never had this professor before and I don’t know if she allows eBooks. Is it acceptable to email her and ask? I really want to make a good impression on her and I don’t want to start off on the wrong foot. If I do have to get a physical copy then so be it, but I just want to know going in.
But it gets more complicated due to the fact that she wrote the book. I don’t exactly know how book royalties (?) work, exactly, but would she get more money if I got the book at a higher price? Or from a more legit site? I really know nothing about how this works; maybe she doesn’t get money for it at all, but the question still remains: would it be insulting if I showed up with a used, run-down copy? Maybe I’m worried about nothing, but this is the first time I’ve had a professor who actually wrote the book we’re using in class, and I’m not sure how to approach it.
Also, the issue isn’t that I can’t afford it. That’s the thing–I can absolutely afford it, and I don’t have any justification for not doing so other than that I don’t want to. But that also makes the notion of getting a cheap, low-quality textbook even more insulting to her.
Academic publishing is different from the mainstream publishing world. If your professor is receiving any royalties at all (and it is very likely she gets none), they are a pittance. For example, a friend of mine is a professor who is the lead author on the new edition of the textbook she uses in her class. Her entire payment for this task, which is hundreds of hours of work, is a couple thousand bucks and no royalties. I gathered from her that this is actually a pretty high payoff in the academic book world.
Also, used books are a time-honored part of the collegiate economy, so don’t worry that your prof will be insulted if you buy a used physical copy instead of a new one. As long as you have the correct edition, you should be fine.
Your primary concern is going to be whether you can participate effectively in class having the eBook version. The biggest problem students often face when using eBooks is that the page numbers don’t match. If that’s the case, then you may need to get a physical book or find a PDF facsimile version. Talk to the prof and see if she refers to specific page numbers in class or in homework assignments. If not, the eBook should be just fine. If so, you’ll need to find a version that enables you to be in sync with the rest of the class.
Thanks for the reply. I definitely feel better about the royalties issue.
I know the book has a LOT of directions for in-class activities (maybe 5-10 per chapter), but I don’t know how many of them we’re actually going to be doing. That being said, the program I’m using to read the eBook allows for copy and paste, so is it worth making and printing a Word document with all the activities at the start of every chapter, or is that irrational/weird?
As to your second paragraph, that does help a little bit, but even so used books are only part of the “collegiate economy” because a lot of college students can’t afford it. It sounds petty, but I’m really self-conscious about being upper-class, especially at school. I guess what I’m saying is that if she saw me with a used book she’d just think, “Oh, I understand, she probably just can’t afford it,” and that would make me feel guilty. From a pro-social standpoint, if you will, is the mere fact that I don’t want to spend money really a valid justification for not doing so?
Also what I’m hearing is, I should email my professor, correct? If so, can I post a draft of the email in this thread?
From a pro-social standpoint, being upper class doesn’t obligate you to pay full price for everything. Your heart seems to be in the right place - wanting your professor to be duly compensated for her work - but you don’t have to accept a bad price just because you have upper-class guilt and the means to pay the price. I could afford to pay full price for my Macbook Pro, too, but I don’t feel guilty about the professional association discount that enabled me to get it cheaper.
People at all class levels of society do their best to maintain their wealth by paying the best available price for the things they buy. In fact, the members of the top 1% that I have met are some of the biggest penny-pinchers I have ever encountered.
Regarding the used book economy, I don’t agree that it exists just because a lot of students can’t afford the full price books. It exists also in large part because many textbooks are not the sort of books you buy to own. There are some exceptions (for example, I kept my Norton Critical Editions of the Greek philosophers), but in general most textbooks go swiftly out of date. Consequently, buying them new carries a very high price because the effect of the used book market is priced in. In effect, they are textbook rentals with a hefty rebate when you return the rental. Notably, the books that have more of a long-term shelf value (literature, classics, philosophy) tend to be much lower priced because many students will not resell them. Meanwhile, the books that go most rapidly out of date (science textbooks) tend to be the highest in price, because the publishers expect an active used market to diminish the market for new copies until they can publish the next updated edition.
In the end, yes, just e-mail the prof and ask her if an ebook is acceptable or if she requires students to have the physical edition. No need to post a draft. One sentence will do. She doesn’t need to know the backstory, or why you are asking.
If you want to make it two sentences, spend the first sentence saying how excited you are to take a class from the very professor who wrote the book, and how much you are looking forward to it. Then ask your question.
This is just me, but I don’t even think I would ask and draw attention to it. The book is for your personal use as a student. If the ebook isn’t too hard for you to use and you’ve downloaded it legally and have all the information that would be in the physical textbook, I can’t see how she can complain.
Grain of salt, this is coming from someone who did everything on the planet to avoid paying full price for textbooks. I checked them out of the school library, I printed out PDFs, I shared with my boyfriend. Not paying $80 for a compilation of Shakespeare’s plays when they’re all available for free in the public domain, sorry professor. Like you, I could’ve afforded them, but it really made no sense when there were cheaper, less shiny options.
@rebeccar As I mentioned in Post #2, the book in question has a lot of instructions for in-class activities, and I feel like the fact that she wrote the book increases the chance that we’ll actually be doing some of them.
Also, I bought another eBook for senior seminar (which I’m taking with the same professor), one out of the four we need for that class, and I know just by nature that it’s going to be very discussion-based. It’s not like these are huge lecture classes; last I checked senior seminar has 16 kids and my other class, Clinical Psychology, will have only nine. As a philosophy minor I’ve had a lot of experience with small discussion-based classes like that, and I’ve always needed to have the book in class to be able to participate sufficiently. Has that not been the case for you?
You can look online at your school’s bookstore and see what kinds of copies are available. If e-books are sold in the bookstore under her section of the class, they are perfectly fine and you don’t have to ask her because she put them there for students to buy. Regardless of format, I don’t think any professor would expect you to buy new books if used copies are available.
The bookstore doesn’t offer an eBook version (I’ve heard of that happening before, but it’s extremely uncommon); the only options available are to buy it new for for $175, buy it used for $130, rent it new for $95, or rent it used for $70. For comparison, I got the eBook in question for $45.
Does the ebook not have the instructions for in-class activities?
It does, but I only have it on my laptop, which you need accommodations to have in class. I do qualify for accommodations because of documented ADD, and I usually use them to get extra time. I could request laptop accommodations as well, but again my overactive conscience is inhibiting me and makes me feel like that’s an improper use of it. But I’ll consider it.
Update: So I did end up emailing my professor after all, and she responded to a number of my questions:
“I think the eBook should work well. I often suggest that students purchase the books for senior sem so they can underline them and bring them to class. But I am sure you can do that with the eBook…We will probably start with [book I have a physical copy of] in Senior Sem…It is fine to use the eBook for Clinical. Most people bring the book or their computers to class. People can share a book in class.”