E-textbooks
Opportunities, innovations, distractions
and dilemmas
Tom Davy
Thomson Learning
1
What is a textbook?
Learning
objectives
Matches course
requirements
Includes
supplements
Case studies
2
3
4
Textbook Supplements
5
Textbook cost elements
1976
6.8%
Royalties
2.7%
Printing
8.4%
38.2%
Typesetting
10.1%
Permissions
33.8%
Design
MS preparation
6
Textbook cost elements
2006
2.8%
Royalties
2.8%
Printing
2.8%
Typesetting
3.3%
Permissions
3.7%
3.7%
38.1%
Art
4.6%
Web site
4.6%
Design
Research
33.5%
Testbank
MS preparation
7
HE Textbook Revenue (£000's)
£90,000
£80,000
£70,000
£60,000
£50,000
Bus
Law
Soc St.
Med
Eng
Econ
Comp Sc
Biol
Engl
Other
Total
CAGR (03-05) 2005 Rev
-5.0%
£16,119
11.9%
£12,648
0.0%
£8,866
6.0%
£6,219
-2.0%
£3,474
-5.3%
£3,098
-13.8%
£3,094
9.2%
£2,884
-7.7%
£2,774
0.9%
£19,188
-0.1%
£78,364
£40,000
£30,000
£20,000
£10,000
£0
Bus
Law
Soc St.
Med
Eng
Econ
Comp Sc
Biol
Engl
Other
Total
Discipline
2003
2004
2005
8
Teaching Philosophies
 A bi-product of research
 Learning shouldn’t be fun
 Students shouldn’t be spoon-fed
 Discovery not prescription
 Learner-centred Vs teacher-led
9
Student expectations
 Get me through the course
 Grab my attention
 Highly visual
 Better than Google
 The bits I need when I need them
 Built-in links for further research
10
Publisher Objectives
 Win market share
 Build a superior product






Better syllabus match
Authoritative author
Latest thinking
New material
Makes course delivery easier
Value-adding supplements
11
It’s an arms race…
12
Diminishing returns
 More returns, less ROI
 Reducing sell-through
 New edition cycles
 Second-hand sales
 “Web resources are free”
13
US Vs ROW price differentials
Kotler, Armstrong Principles of Marketing
US Edition $160 = £80.00
UK Edition £42.99
14
US Edition
$141.98 = £70
UK Edition
£39.89
15
Economics of textbook publishing
 High initial investment

Supplements
 High Price



In the US
If discretionary purchase for students
Used books, leakage, buying around, piracy
 Inefficient supply chain

Multiple intermediaries
 High wastage



“Unsuccessful” first editions
Too much content
Returns
16
Corporate exodus from education
“Education slow to adopt digital solutions”
17
Textbook Vs Digital
Textbook
Digital
 Portable
 I-pods, mobile phones
 Tactile
 I-pods, mobile phones
 No equipment required
 Ubiquitous items
 Text better on paper
 E-paper, print on demand
 Organising framework
 Learner journeys
 Linear
 Interactive
 Single medium
 Multiple media
 Too much or too little
 As much as you need
 Single learning style
 Individual learning styles
18
Context
Faculty
 Tutor contact hours are reducing
(www.williseemytutor.com)
 From sage on the stage to guide on the side
Students
 Access to huge amount of content
 Students will accept “good enough”
 Students have become Googleized
19
Is there a better way?
What would we invent
today if the textbook
did not exist?
20
The Learning Pyramid
Wisdom
Understanding
Knowledge
Information
Data
21
Book Centric
Case Studies
Companion Website
Learning Assessments
22
Objective Centric
Learning
Objective
Learning Assessments
23
Dilemmas
 Print pays our salaries
 The bleeding edge is a painful place
 Selling direct to students
 Digital rights management
24
Distractions
 E-books
 Bookshops
 Digitalist zealots
25
Innovations
 The demise of content silos
 Customised content
 User created and sharing
26
Opportunities
 University management: offer your customers
a more compelling learning experience

Go digital
 Librarians: market your services more
effectively

Move into the campus bookshop space
 Publishers
 Look beyond the textbook
 Start thinking objectives and digital learning
objects
27