Open Textbooks
Reasoning For Writers
Academics Need A Simple Avenue To Publish
Getting published (especially for the first time) can be a daunting task. Most academics have a strong desire to learn and explore their field of study. Many have spent their lives learning fine details of one subject. The demand for a new paper or other published work is not very strong. Academic journals and other publications do not have the circulation that the mass media has and as a result there are relatively few avenues for publication.
Working toward writing a textbook is an excellent way to hone your writing skills while still having an impact on the academic world at large. This process is reminiscent of the open source software movement. A writer does not have to complete a textbook or even a single chapter to make a positive difference. Open textbooks are developed using a wiki; software that allows a user to publish documents and other material on-line using only a web browser. When a few moments are available, log into the wiki and make some changes for the better. Write a paragraph or two. Over time, this effort will pay off in a big way. It’s hard not to think of it in terms of a well tended garden, where many of the visitors have a positive impact as they enjoy the view.
Published Books Generally Bring In Little Revenue
Typical textbook authors receive a royalty of between 6% - 13% royalty on textbooks sold. Many textbooks contain specialized knowledge and as a result have a very small readership. On-line estimates indicate that a specialized book might sell only 5,000 copies altogether.
Taking into account the amount of effort an research needed to create a compendium of this sort, the hourly wage for doing this type of work could be less than the Federal minimum wage. Often writers of college level textbooks lament the enormous amount of effort required considering the limited reward for completion.
Customization Based On Context
Modern wiki software offers the possibility of pre-selecting the material presented to students. Not all courses, (or programs) are the same. They often require a different treatment of the subject based on context. The textbook committee for a school or program will have the opportunity to choose which content is most relevant to the topic and reject other content. This feature will probably be even more relevant to primary schools where the content of textbooks is a hot topic.
Long-Term Revenue For Writers
There is a misconception among the public about the cost of running an on-line textbook service. Web hosting is very inexpensive at this time. A decent hosting account costs anywhere between $10-$20 per month. This tier of account would be acceptable for a startup textbook operation but would be outgrown as the need for more bandwidth increases. Business types are skeptical about running such a service as they compare it to the news media. This is an unfair comparison similar to comparing apples to monkeys.
Running a news service is very expensive as news reporters do not work for free. Travel costs are considerable along with the costs of producing printed newspaper, magazines, or whatever. Costs to manage and maintain a wiki are far more reasonable. Employee(s) would telecommute to work. No need for commercial real estate. The real cost lies in the servers needed as well as the bandwidth.
Obviously the revenue stream from this venture would come from on-line advertising. Want to advertise to college students? This would be the place to go. The revenue stream from this will be steady as the colleges and universities will drive more and more traffic to this location on the web. Also targeted advertising is possible as you would be able to advertise in a particular book or genre of books.
Reasoning For Readers
It’s Green
Paper copies of college textbooks are plainly a waste of trees. Most textbooks will end up in a landfill before the semester is over. Only a handful will be re-sold as used textbooks or recycled to print other materials. The publishers have worked overtime creating a new edition of popular textbooks as often as possible. These new editions are claimed to be more up-to-date that the previous version. It is often noted that very little substantive changes are made from one edition to the next.
The energy used to produce these books would be better spent on a server to supply the information via the Web. Modern servers have focused on producing more energy efficient computers and networks. This trend started a few years ago and has grown stronger.
Lower Cost Of Education
Textbooks are now a very significant cost of a college education. According to the U.S. Department of Education, the cost of textbooks has risen faster than any other college expense other than tuition itself. One study entitled “TURN THE PAGE: MAKING COLLEGE TEXTBOOKS MORE AFFORDABLE” details several means of limiting the cost of textbooks. Many students complain that they spend more money on materials for class than the tuition itself. According to the study, “Textbook nationwide expenses rose far more rapidly than the prices of other commodities nationwide: 107% at two-year public colleges and 109% at four-year public colleges, compared to 65% for the CPI.” Cutting the cost of textbooks to nearly zero would be a huge benefit to society as a whole. With this expense out of the picture, a larger portion of the population will have the possibility of acquiring that coveted diploma.
Information More Relevant And Current
Changes to on-line textbooks can occur almost instantly. Although there will be some overhead of time for editors to approve changes, almost any improvement could be available within only a few days of being published in draft form. Some industries like biotechnology and information technology will rely on new graduates with the most recent information possible. This information will still be updated and available after the student graduates, providing reference material for future use.
The dead tree business of textbooks cannot hope to compete in this area at all.