As an author whose books are sold into technical college courses, I have some insight into why college textbooks cost $100 or more, each.
1. The college bookstore takes 40% for itself. Just as many colleges overcharge for meals and residences, they charge full list price for textbooks. Some colleges, such as Columbia Bible Collage, do students a favor by charging less than full price for textbooks -- sometimes even less than Amazon.com's price.
2. Amazon.com's massive discounts drives up cover prices. The impact of Amazon offering you larger discounts is that you pay more for books. When Amazon demands 50%-60% discounts, publishers raise list prices to continue making the same amount of income.
3. The owners of books publishers want higher profits-- like any other corporation. As an author, publishers every year look for ways to pay me less, even though my portion amounts to 5% (or less) of the book's list price.
Make no mistake: book publishers generate 2nd, 3rd, 4th editions to generate more income (some material is changed to justify the new edition). They hate the idea of second-hand book sales. They are non-competitive: when another book publisher raises prices, they do too. To me, it appears that book publishers never took economics: when sales of a book fall, they increase its price.
In summary, the fault of high textbook prices lies with:
1. You college bookstore.
2. Amazon.com's discounting practices.
3. The book publishers owners.
What can be done against high textbook prices?
In my first year of university (1974), $20 was considered expensive for a hardcover textbook. During my seven years there, prices increased so much that I engaged in these tactics:
-- avoided buying any textbook until I determined whether I needed it. Some profs only assign textbooks because it is university culture to do so -- not because it is needed. In my last year, I bought no textbooks.
-- shared textbooks between roommates or others in the course.
-- bought second-hand, particularly in the second semester, when the same edition always used.
-- tried to locate a cheaper source, such as at a different college bookstore, an off-campus bookstore, or a used bookstore. (I have found Amazon.com useless, for textbooks either are no cheaper, or take months to ship.)
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