Textbook Hope

Textbooks in college are horribly expensive.  I just ordered an academic book as a gift for one of my sons (law and gothic novels) and it was around $80.  The Kindle version was nearly as much.  If the Kindle edition had been at a regular Kindle reduction I might have forgone the author's signature I hope to get and just put it on the Kindle for all of us to read.  What is the author or publisher, or both, thinking. This book won't make or break either of them.  Haven't they ever heard of "priced to sell"?  If you are looking for an example of the 1% vS the 99%, look at academic publishing.

US university students spent $4.5bn on textbooks in 2010, according to the Association of American Publishers, with the vast majority going on traditional printed books.

A bunch.

The good news is that a recent deal mentioned in The Telegraph may begin to bring textbook prices back to normal.  Here is the link, which I found at The Instapundit (Insty is on vacation, so this post is by Ms Sarah A Hoyt).  Let us hope.

Regards  —  Cliff