Let me start by saying, “I love books!” I love to read them. I maintain a large collection of them. I mark them up while I am studying them. I prefer learning by reading books to learning from audio presentations or a video. I am a “hands on” learner.

Oh – and I spent most of my career working in publishing. So I understand the cost structure to produce, market and publish a book.

So, this article from American Public Media on the price of college textbooks caught my eye – “Textbook costs getting hard to cover.”  

“One big and growing chunk of that tab is textbooks. The typical undergraduate book bill is $900 a year and growing. So today, a group of college professors went public with a call for low-priced and free texts online. Congress is trying to ease the book burden too.”

OK – what price isn’t rising these days? Tuition costs are skyrocketing so why shouldn’t textbooks prices do the same? Should congress get involved in this? No, no, no!

Who – or what – is to blame for this? Here is one former publishing executives explanation – blame the “used textbook” market: Continue reading “How to price yourself out of business” »