Many musicians have taken over the production and distribution tasks for their music, with their own MySpace pages, albums listed in iTunes, and other web-based distribution. And here’s an example of a faculty member taking a similar tack with his text book. With the limited market (compared to main market books) and high distribution costs I am surprised that text book publishers haven’t gone to a print on demand model themselves. I am sure publishers are afraid of the free PDF option that is being offered in this example. But for me I find PDFs useful for previewing the materials, but if the purchase price is reasonable I’ll always order the book. And in recent surveys students have confirmed that they prefer print versions of their text books. If an economics professor thinks this makes sense, it is probably worth paying attention to!
Link by Link – Don’t Buy That Textbook, Download It Free – NYTimes.com
McAfee allows anyone to download a Word file or PDF of his book, while also taking advantage of the growing marketplace for print on demand. In true economist fashion, he has allowed two companies, Lulu and Flat World Knowledge, to sell print versions of his textbook, with Lulu charging $11 and Flat World anywhere from $19.95 to $59.95. As he said on his Web site, he is keeping the multiple options to “further constrain their ability to engage in monopoly pricing.”
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Randall Rode's online home for thoughts, notes, and experiments with a wide range of technology topics. Visit the about page for info on my recent projects and professional background. I welcome your comments!
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