For some odd reason, interesting, facts about the world of textbook publishing continue to fall into my lap. My newest interest is how books are priced. Luckily, one of the people I am interviewing for my final portfolio, Sarah Williams Goldhagen, author of books such as Louis Kahn's Situated Modernism, recently returned from New York after pitching her new book to six publishers, two of which are Harper Collins and Random House.
Originally, the new book she is writing was meant to be a how-to on modern architecture, however, when HarperCollins asked her if she would be willing to make it a version of Ways of Reading for Architecture students she said, "Yes".
The next day an airplane ticket to JFK awaited her. Goldhagen then realized she should pitch Harpers idea to the other publishers she was planning on visiting anyway. To her surprise, four of the six all are currently pitching on the book, which, she says, will raise the price of the book altogether.
As college students that purchase books such as this, how do you feel about the fact that book prices are settled through the demand of, essentially, six dinosaurs in the publishing industry? Most of all, how do you feel about the influence the publishing industry has over your pockets as a college student, and how does your love for publishing/writing influence your opinion?
It’s a Beeping Problem
2 months ago
I have to say, just reading that story makes my blood boil. One of the first days of this school year I was in the NU bookstore purchasing the necessary materials for my classes. The smallest book in my pile rang up as $80 prompting the cashier to mumble "that's not right," and proceed to ring it up again. $80 for a book I could read in one sitting. Now that I think about it, I should have read it in one sitting and left it right there in the bookstore. It's disgusting to see textbook companies take advantage of college students who are forced to buy the books or risk failing. Books priced that high would not sell in the "real world" but the industry really seems to soak in the humble position of students. They're not alone in this, just look at the wedding industry. Hiked up prices because the people are willing to pay. At least there's more of a choice there. With textbooks, you can't really choose which textbook you'd like to use for a class...so we fork out the $80 for a little book. Ugh.
ReplyDelete