Cost of Textbooks

In an article in Forbes Srmanna Mitra Writes with a headline:

"How Amazon Could Change Publishing

BURLINGAME , CALIF. -

Technology has disrupted every industry. Now, it's book publishing's turn.

Archaic beyond belief, it's an industry that treats its most important asset--the author--badly. Can this go on?

The book market in the United States is worth about $32 billion a year; the rest of the world, an additional $36 billion. Who makes the money? Not the author.

Retailers take almost 50%. The agent takes 15% to 20%. The publisher gets squeezed--it's cause for huge celebration if they make 20%.

"On a book that costs $24.95, the author gets at most $1 to $1.50," says Eileen Gittins, chief executive of Blurb, an online print-on-demand publisher of photography books."

She brings to light a very important issue and a market that is ready for digital onslaught. However, she missed some other notable attempts to deal with the cost of books more specifically the text books.

Here is a website that is trying to get professors on board to deal with this issue

Make Text book affordable
Tired of outrageous textbook prices? Can't sell back any of your books? Can't find any used books? Sick of all the extra CD-ROMs and workbooks that you don't ever use? We're fighting back against textbook ripoffs and we're making progress. Join our national campaign and fight for affordable textbooks!

1,000 Professors Sign Statement for Affordable Textbooks
Also, Click here for the Open Textbooks Faculty Statement of Intent

Some notable open free resources are listed here

Additional resources are listed in this facebook group titled "Open Free Educational Resources"