According to the Association of American Publishers, textbooks are reasonably priced given what it costs to produce them. Association president Patricia Schroeder argues, for example, that "one of the books cited by the letter from the mathematics professors, Thomson's 'Calculus: Early Transcendentals,' had 'extensive revisions that cost the publisher more than $1 million.'" One wonders what they spent the money on - it certainly wasn't the author. And the cost to students isn't so high, argues Schroeder, once the resale value is factored in (unless, of course, you are one of the people for whom a new edition has made your copy useless). My question is: why on earth would we support an industry that spends $1 million to revise a textbook? There must be a better way, has to be a better way.
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