Why do textbooks cost so much?

[coloradodem2005]

Is it not enough that they take you for a ride on tuition. I also found out that B.O. is trying to privatize CU, therby raising the tuition. I hate Republicans. I blame them for this and my hard time finding a job.

[jus_the_facts]

1. because knowledge is priceless....pukeazoid logic...

:puke:

[coloradodem2005]

3. You can't put a price on education.

If you do, then only the rich go while the smart, but poor suffer. Oh wait, that is how Bush got to where he is.

[gratuitous]

2. Textbooks cost a lot because . . .

They're expensive to research and write, have a very limited shelf life, and they have a captive buying audience. Any two of these conditions would be enough to make a textbook go for $100 retail; all three make it a certainty.

[Commie Pinko Dirtbag]

11. The limited shelf life is mostly artificial.

There's no reason to use a different Calculus book every couple of years.

[sam sarrha]

4. probably the paper also, has to be durable.. pine pulp isn't....

the books i get form Snow Lion Pub are 'cloth' paper not pulp.. they are a joy to hold and touch... but cost more.

[Heddi]

5. Tell me about it---I just bought my books for my 1st Qtr Nursing Program

actually, not even ALL of them (they all weren't in stock). Over $400 for them, and I've got about another $300 worth to buy.

And that's just for the FIRST QUARTER...the program is 6 quarters long. Granted, I'll use some (but not all) of the books throughout the program (like drug guides & diagnostic test guides), but one book I have to get in the future is for Surgical Nursing..TWO HUNDRED DOLLA!!! Fuck that. I told my husband that I need to get out of the Nursing Profession and get into Textbook Publishing since those fuckers seem to make all the dough.

ANNNDDD they fuck you even more because they generally put out new editions every few quarters. So if you're one of the unlucky ones who has a book from last quarter, and you go to sell it back at the end of the term, but the NEW EDITION is what's going to be used next quarter, then you only get like $20 or $50 for a book that easily cost over $100. THENNNN they won't buy back a book if you used the instructional CD that went with it. So you can spend $150 on a book with a CD that quizzes you and gives extra pictures and diagrams, but, if you dare use the CD, the bookstore won't buy the book back :wtf:

I have SO many textbooks from school that I kept because I paid $100+ for them (even used!) but when I went to sell them back, either they were outdated b/c of new editions so I'd get maybe $15 for the book, or they would buy it back but only give me $30 for it. I figured that a book worth $100 was worth keeping even if I'd never use it again---I wasn't going to let the school KEEP getting richer off of me any more than they already were.

And it's not like the used textbooks were that much cheaper than new. My Cellular Biology book--HUGE fucking tome. Brand new cost $123. Used was $97....I bought my book new (there were no used) but when I went to sell it back, I only got $45 for a book that they were then going to mark up $50 more dollars and sell back as used.


And it's not like all of the new editions had tons new stuff that the older editions didn't have. Microbiology, I used an old edition book even though the new edition was required for the class. I sat down with a new edition book that a friend bought, and went through each book, page by page, to see the differences. Know what the differences were: The diagram boxes that had pertinent information about disease processes that were scattered through the chapter had a brown background in the old edition. The new edition had a green background. WORD FOR WORD it was the same book. You could go to page 97 in the old book and the SAME WORDS would be in the SAME PLACE on page 97 in the new book. ALL THE WAY THROUGH the books were the same---but the new one was 'required', even though the professor said he didn't agree with it but was told by the Biology Dept that he had to use the new books but let everyone who wanted to use the old ones since they were the same.
What a bunch of shit.

[kitkatrose]

21. Excellent...

I couldn't have said it better myself. :thumbsup:

I have SO many textbooks from school that I kept because I paid $100+ for them (even used!) but when I went to sell them back, either they were outdated b/c of new editions so I'd get maybe $15 for the book, or they would buy it back but only give me $30 for it. I figured that a book worth $100 was worth keeping even if I'd never use it again---I wasn't going to let the school KEEP getting richer off of me any more than they already were.

You're lucky if you can get money for books they're not going to use. Its SOL for me. No money at all.

[OneBlueSky]

6. don't know about anyone else, but when I was in college . . .

it was pretty standard for professors to require their own books for their courses . . . all of which, of course, were obscenely overpriced . . . guess they weren't paid enough, so they made it up on the back end . . .

[catmandu57]

7. And the buyback sucks

books that are perfectly good, that will be used in the second semester, books that in August cost an arm and a leg suddenly are made of shit, that the bookstores don't want at all.

[Reverend_Smitty]

10. Tell me about it

A biology text book that I bought for $110 my first semester of college, was bought back for $20...I only opened the thing once!!!

[1monster]

8. Try Overstock.com. I got an full color art text book from them for under

$23.00. It shipped out quickly and arrived in less than a week.

I was substitute teaching in an art class where a college student was doing his internship. He showed me the book, which is really terrific, and told me he paid a fortune for it in the college bookstore.

[crimson333]

9. amazon.com used text books is they way to go

saved 150.00 this quarter, and sold my books in 4 hours from last semester at close to the price I paid for them.

[RodneyCK2]

12. Exactly, I have purchased some of mine from Amazon used.

Also, shop around on the internet. Here is a great comparison web site for books...

http://www.bestwebbuys.com/books/

[barackmyworld]

13. I hate high prices!

I read an article today that said most of the high cost is because books are updated more often than needed, such as latin or algebra books.

For half.com and other type used-book sites, don't order something that you abolsutely must have by a certain date. I attempted to buy a chemistry textbook last year only to get an email a week later from the seller that it was out of stock. I had to order another one and hope that they actually had it! They did, but it was softcover. Ugh, and then I failed that class too. If anyone wants to buy a completely untouched/unread "principles of inorganic chemistry" softcover international edition...

[Book Lover]

14. I can reply more later

when I'm not at work, but I started to answer this here:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=105x1593662

[curse10]

15. I don't see why peope complain about this

I pay around 5-600 bucks a semester for books. Big deal. It means I have up to date material. These books are expensive because they need to be updated on a regular basis (yearly). Printing, binding, editing, shipping, researching, and writing all take a lot of time and money.

And many professors have you use their own book. They are required to be published to get tenure. Why go through all that shit then not use the book>? Plus, then they know the fucking book! Nothing worse than a professor who doesn't know what you read.

[bobbieinok]

16. notice textbooks do not have price printed on them anywhere

(I'm a retired college teacher)

When I was deciding on a textbook 7 years ago, I called publishers to find out the cost. I was told the price bookstores paid them. One publisher was very informative and said college bookstores add 15 to 30+ percent when they sell to students.

[RodneyCK2]

17. I was just going to make that point...

Also, maybe you can answer this question. Do the professors or authors receive most of the money or does it go to the University/department who funds most of their research trips, expenses, etc?

[Book Lover]

19. Standard author royalties run

between 8% and 15% Everything else goes to the publisher.

[Book Lover]

20. Did you call your sales rep or customer servce?

In my experience, a sales rep wouldn't have given you a bookstore cost, mostly because markups differ. If the price will differ from campus to campus, how can the publisher put one price on the book?

[pbg]

18. I'd just point out

that once you get beyond best sellers (that are priced to move) books are pretty expensive these days--and the smaller the print run, the more expensive.

Look at any big fat scholarly or technical book these days and you're talking 50 dollars minimum.

[theoceansnerves]

22. make good use of your school's library

i haven't bought a textbook in years. see if your textbook is already in the library, usually at the reserves desk if it's for a popular class. if it's not, ask your professor to put it there. if they don't, keep pestering them until they do. if they still won't, ask your library to order the book through interlibrary loan. if the loan period is too short (like a reserves book may be two hours) just make copies of what you need. this is especially useful in the many cases in which you don't even use the entire book, but maybe only a few chapters.