Laws on the
(Text)Books
FROM PUBLISHING
TRENDS (APRIL 2004)
Since
the NYT first tackled the thorny subject of textbook
pricing, voices on both sides of the debate have been
getting hoarser. But if the chatter at recent textbook
trade shows — Camex, College Bookstores of America
(CBA), and the BN College Stores Show
— is any indication, textbook prices may indeed have
hit their ceiling. Despite freshman classes steadily
bulging to an expected peak in 2009, unit sales of textbooks
are down and returns are on the rise. Not only are some
retailers taking matters into their own hands by promoting
buy-backs and used-book sales, but a few states have
legislation pending to force publishers to ease students’
post-tuition financial burden.
“Textbook
publishers add bells and whistles that drive up the
price of textbooks, but faculty do not use these materials,”
gripes one such bill, California’s AB 2477. “Half of
all textbooks now come ‘bundled’ or shrink-wrapped with
additional materials, such as CD-ROMs and workbooks.
Sixty-five percent of faculty ‘rarely’ or ‘never’ use
the bundled materials in their courses. Textbook publishers
put new editions on the market frequently — often without
content changes — making the less-expensive used textbooks
obsolete and unavailable.”
Though the bill is unsettling for publishers, it is
more cautionary than legislative, in that the state
“urges textbook publishers” to unbundle instructional
material, giving students more choice; disclose the
various products they sell and how much each costs;
disclose how the newest edition is different from the
previous one; and disclose to faculty members how long
they intend to produce current editions. However, the
pending law exhorts officials at Cal. State, the Cal.
Community Colleges, and the UC regents to work with
faculty to make it cheaper to acquire textbooks and
promote used book availability on campuses.
Meanwhile, Georgia’s HB 1368 seems to push responsibility
for change to the seller, not the publisher. It would
limit the maximum price for a textbook by any bookstore
owned or operated by the State of Georgia to no more
than 15% over wholesale price. NY State, on the other
hand, is applying a free-market approach by encouraging
more competition between on-campus stores and stores
surrounding the schools.
There is even a bill in the US House directing the Comptroller
General to “conduct an investigation of the high price
of college textbooks” (HR 3567, introduced last Nov.),
stating that students spend nearly $1,000 on textbooks
per year, and often find “the exact same textbook can
be purchased overseas at half the cost.” With this in
mind, one could say it’s up to the publishers to help
themselves by decreasing students’ need to look elsewhere.
In defense of the publishers, the AAP’s Pat
Schroeder led a delegation to the hill during the
recent AAP Annual Meeting and made the case on behalf
of her embattled member publishers. The publishers,
she said, are justified in what they charge because
of huge development costs, competition from course packs,
and adoption uncertainties. But Congressman Dennis
Miller of California opened the meeting with a salvo
of his own. As one of the authors of the “No Child Left
Behind” bill, he roundly declared that “cost is a barrier
to higher education,” especially when states are cutting
financial aid and the Feds don’t allow refinancing of
long-term student loans (which have more than doubled
since 1992, to $35 billion in new annual student loan
commitments). On the subject of textbook pricing, he
bluntly said: “If customers think they’re being abused,
they’ll go around the system” — which translates to
“know your customer.”
In this case, the customer is the student who doesn’t
have much choice in the matter, except to go online
and buy internationally or from peers on eBay
(a recent search came up with 18,200 items listed under
College Textbooks). Wiley’s William Pesce,
in one of the meeting’s shockers, agreed with Miller,
arguing that the future of textbooks lay in the distribution
of information as (paid) digital delivery, concurring
with Miller that publishers let their customers down
and were now paying the price. And even some US booksellers
are sympathizing with students. The BN College team
has unveiled a compelling promo campaign for used-book
buy-backs, which shows an image of students demonstrating
against the price of textbooks and a paucity of used
copies.
©2004
Publishing Trends
