The Increased Problem of Textbook Piracy in Educational Publishing
Imagine you’re an English lit student. The semester has just started, and your teacher is telling you that you need to buy one of the Shakespeare volumes for their module. A book that you know you will only need for a short period of time, because you heard it from your friends in the year above you. In addition to telling you this, one of your friends also told you about a website where you can illegally download the book for free. Tempted with the thought, you are faced with a dilemma. Buy the book, even though it seems unnecessary? Or, get it for free by the click of a button? For many, the latter option may seem like the best choice. During recent years, textbook piracy has become increasingly more common amongst students (Strauss, 2014). Why is that so?
An American report done by Student PIRGs revealed that ‘since 2006 the cost of a college textbook has increased by 73 percent’ (as cited by Weisbaum, 2016). Textbooks nowadays can be very expensive, with some costing up to $200–250. Reasons for the soaring prices might be because publishers lack competition in the industry, as ‘5 publishers control 80 percent of the market’ (Weisbaum, 2016). Additionally, most courses have assigned books that the students’ need to buy. Therefore, students might resolve in textbook piracy, as the attitude towards it might be different. Francisca Rebelo explained this as ‘students do not see the cultural value of textbooks due to the fact that textbooks are required reading materials rather than voluntary’ (as cited in TKBR Publishing, 2017).
As a result of students buying less print textbooks in favour of other formats, several publishers are experiencing severe decline in print textbook sales. For example, Pearson recorded its biggest loss in the company history of £2.6bn in 2016 (Sweney, 2017). So, what are the publishers doing in order to prevent textbook piracy?
Several publishers have improved their offers, hoping it will help the situation. Pearson for example, released an updated version of an economics book by Hubbard & O’Brien in 2017 (Schrager, Wang). But instead of only selling it in print or eBook format, they created the book into a textbook version of Netflix. Making it possible for students to purchase a semester-long subscription of the book. (Schrager, Wang, 2017). Educational publisher Cengage also launched a similar subscription model where student can access unlimited resources for $119.99 a semester (Bond, 2017). But, can these measures solve the problem?
To some extent, yes. These offers do make it easier for students by offering more than what a plain print book can. However, the prices for the digital products are still higher than used (TKR Publishing, 2017). With used books, students have the choice to either retain or resell them when they are done with their course. The digital products that Cengage or Pearson offer are rental, and will after a certain period, expire. And ‘” it renders the textbook worthless.” (Study International, 2018)’.
Furthermore, students still prefer print books. A report done in 2012 by University of Michigan stated that 75% of students’ favour print over digital (TKR Publishing, n.d.) With a print textbook, students can customize it through ‘highlighting, post-it notes and dog-ears’ and ‘proceed at their own pace’ (Study International, 2018).
As textbook piracy has become increasingly more common, publishers are trying their best to create offers that can improve the current educational environment. However, these offers still does not meet the actual demand made by students, which is to lower their high prices on textbooks.
References:
Bond, S. (2017). Educational publishers experiment with ebooks and rentals | Financial Times. [online] Ft.com. Available at: https://www.ft.com/content/39ee32a8-e402-11e7-8b99-0191e45377ec
Schrager, A. and Wang, A. (2017). College textbooks are going the way of Netflix. [online] Quartz. Available at: https://qz.com/1039404/end-of-textbooks/
Strauss, V. (2014). More students are illegally downloading college textbooks for free. [online] Washington Post. Available at: https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/answer-sheet/wp/2014/09/17/more-students-are-illegally-downloading-college-textbooks-for-free/?noredirect=on&utm_term=.053b036318d6
Sweney, M. (2017). Education publisher Pearson reports biggest loss in its history. [online] the Guardian. Available at: https://www.theguardian.com/business/2017/feb/24/education-publisher-pearson-loss-us-penguin-random-house
PUB800. (2017). Wake Up and Smell the Torrents: Why Higher Education Textbook Publishing May Be in Trouble. [online] Available at: https://tkbr.publishing.sfu.ca/pub800/2017/02/why-higher-education-textbook-publishing-may-be-in-trouble/
Study International. (2018). Netflix, but for textbooks: US company helps college students buy course materials — Study International. [online] Available at: https://www.studyinternational.com/news/netflix-cengage-unlimited-subscription-textbooks-course-materials-university-college/
Study International. (2018). It’s 2018. Why do we still have textbooks? — Study International. [online] Available at: https://www.studyinternational.com/news/3-reasons-universities-teach-public-interest-technology/
Weisbaum, H. (2016). Students Are Still Saddled With Soaring Textbook Costs, Report Says. [online] NBC News. Available at: https://www.nbcnews.com/business/business-news/students-are-still-saddled-soaring-textbook-costs-report-says-n516011