The introduction of e-readers like Amazon’s Kindle DX and the Sony Reader are precursors of things to come for the textbook industry, but print remains king for now and for the foreseeable future.

Though the technology is promising and attractive, several obstacles remain to be overcome before e-readers will dominate the market: consumer education, pricing flaws, and a cultural preference for print textbooks.

Recent tests of e-readers have found that students are initially pleased with the devices, but become frustrated with them once they realize that they lack some of the very basic conveniences of print text books, e.g. the ability to highlight/mark passages, cross-reference, or flag pages. In fact, in a recent test run at Northwest Missouri State University, students given an e-book device quickly asked for their print textbooks back, complaining of how difficult it was to quickly flip through the digital textbook or make marks or annotations to the text.

Also creating a roadblock to the rise of the electronic textbook is the matter of economics. Textbook publishers are profit-centered businesses, not altruistic organizations intent on saving the world by killing fewer trees or ushering in a new age of digital learning. Bottom line: If e-books don’t offer an increased profit margin, there’s no incentive for textbook publishers to offer their materials by using them. It’s certain that textbook publishers will be cautious in pricing e-textbooks. More information will be available this summer, as Pearson Education, Cengage Learning, and John Wiley will be releasing most of their textbook titles to Amazon’s Kindle store.

Another issue that may give publishers pause in adopting Kindle or another e-reader as their primary platform is the prevalence of electronic piracy. File-sharing services have decimated the music industry and textbook publishers are loath to watch the same thing happen to their businesses.

Finally, while the digital textbook market may one day offer textbook publishers a hedge against the used textbook market, publishers may hit a brick wall if students are unwilling to pay higher prices for the supposed convenience of e-books.

For example, a copy of an Applied Chemistry textbook costs $96.76 in electronic format, but a used print version only costs about $39.99. I admit this is merely one example, but research shows that e-books cost around 70% of the print textbook’s list price. Will publishers be able to find a market for more expensive e-versions of their books when cheaper, used print versions are available? Add the cost of the Kindle, which ranges from $359-489, and the cost-effectiveness really comes into question.

In short, while the future of the textbook publishing industry may be in a digital format, its present is still very much written in ink. 

Questions or comments? Post your thoughts below & start the discussion.

What is FreeTextbooks? Founded in January 2009, FreeTextbooks.com is an online textbook buyer and seller with a growing nationwide online clientele and a real-world presence at the University of Alabama, Samford University, the University of Alabama-Huntsville, Auburn University, and Troy University. We sell for less, buy for more, and offer a unique cash back program (so you can earn free books). In addition, FreeTextbooks.com is a social venture, helping to meet the underprivileged’s most basic needs – food, clean water, clothing, education, and health. In the past four months, we’ve provided 850 meals to Birmingham’s Jimmie Hale Mission.