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Re: [Phys-L] textbook prices



If anyone knows one of these authors, I'd like to know what they make
in royalties. I suspect it is close to zero. The vast majority goes to
the publisher.

My observation is that most people making resources available for free
(Creative Commons, etc.) "set and forget". These people have FT
careers and are encouraged to release their intellectual property by
administrators and/or publishers. However, they have no vested
interest or incentive in producing a complete resource or maintaining
that resource in the future. The underlying assumption is that other
instructors are as competent as they are, and will continue the
development of their material. Not likely. The internet is littered
with incomplete, inconsistent, error-laden, and pedagogically poor
instructional resources. And there are administrators and governments
demanding instructors use them. This is the death-knell for new
students who need continuity and consistency to develop a strong
foundational knowledge of a subject.

There are also good resources out there. Wikipedia is one. ChemWiki is
another. A few companies are trying to capitalize on not selling CC
material directly, but selling everything around it. (This violates
the CC license, btw.)

In my opinion, CC has devalued intellectual property and decreased the
quality of the available instructional resources.


***MORE ON SELF-PUBLISHING

The printing cost of books is negligible: less than 10 $ a book when
printed in volume (color or b/w). The price goes up when printing less
than 1000.

For eBooks sold through an online retailer, the publisher makes
between 40 and 70 % of the list price.

I've figured out strategies for getting works edited and reviewed.
I've sourced printers in North America that are competitively priced.
I've figured out Amazon and other online retailers for distribution of
both print and electronic formats.
I've figured out how to do DRM of PDFs. (At least I think I have!)
I've figured out that ePUB and MOBI formats do not work for scientific
instructional resources that contain special characters and graphics.

The biggest challenge I face is marketing. How do I identify and
inform tens of thousands of instructors of instructional resources
that may benefit them and their students?
* Bulk emails are deleted and/or illegal in many jurisdictions.
* Word of mouth works for specialized resources, not general
resources.

Your thoughts?

Dr. Roy Jensen
(==========)-----------------------------------------¤
Lecturer, Chemistry
W5-19, University of Alberta
780.248.1808




On Thu, 17 Dec 2015 10:38:04 -0500, you wrote:

Only $400? My colleague pointed out this text to me that he was interested in (until he found out the price):

http://www.amazon.com/Fundamentals-Shaped-Charges-W-Walters/dp/0471621722 <http://www.amazon.com/Fundamentals-Shaped-Charges-W-Walters/dp/0471621722>


-----
Carl E Mungan, Assoc Prof of Physics 410-293-6680 (O) -3729 (F)
Naval Academy Stop 9b, 572C Holloway Rd, Annapolis MD 21402-1363
mailto:mungan@usna.edu http://usna.edu/Users/physics/mungan/

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