Quote:
Originally Posted by Jason Dunn
I kind of feel sorry for most technology book publishers - people just don't buy technology books like they used to...
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I feel sorry for the tech book WRITERS who don't receive the kind of revenue they once did for such books. I have a hard time feeling sorry for the publishers. They are the same ones charging $150 for a 500 page textbook that I use in one of my classes. My students are spending around $500-$750 per semester for textbooks--supposedly paying for all of the unuseful supplemental software, but really for all of the cute blonde sales reps that wander our halls and offsetting heavy revenue shortfalls elsewhere. Textbook costs have risen at a rate above 6% per year, which of course is WAY above inflation. Full in-state tuition is around $1500. You do the math. Obviously we're working towards eliminating traditional textbooks as much as possible. Again sad since it isn't the fault of the writers and there really is value in a good textbook in terms of structuring learning and maintaining continuity.
All paper publishers (book, magazine and newspaper) are in peril unless they can come up with more up-to-date and financially reasonable means of distributing their intellectual property. There is no doubt expectations have been reset and fundamental paradigm shift is underway. It'll be a completely different landscape in 10 years. I'll stake my shoddy reputation on that!
