photo credit: Amy the Nurse

The textbook publishing industry is ripe for innovation, and that’s what Flat World Knowledge is trying to do by offering free textbooks to students. The textbooks aren’t traditional textbooks- they are e-books.

Why e-books? Because that’s what students prefer.

Students who opt for digital versions of traditional texts often choose them for pricing reasons, as textbook costs per student average $900 [emphasis mine] a year, according to the Student Public Interest Research Groups. Digital versions of texts typically run about half the price of new hard copy books, Frank Lyman, executive vice president at CourseSmart, said.

When you consider that the average tuition at a public institution of higher learning is rising, itâ??s no wonder that Flat World believes thereâ??s a market for free textbooks. So how is Flat World going to make money? They will charge students for supplemental materials such as course guides, study notes, etc. Flat World is taking the same approach to textbooks that Red Hat et. al. is applying to software: Give away the product, but charge for extras.

However, Flat Worldâ??s approach isnâ??t without its skeptics. Much of the speculation comes from traditional textbook publishers and groups supporting them, which isnâ??t surprising.

I canâ??t imagine anyone taking this seriously, said Bob Stein, director of the Institute for the Future of the Book, a think tank based in New York. My reaction would be that either they are not spending much money to produce these books, so they are not of value and they are giving poor kids the short end of the stick once again. Or, they are going to overprice these ancillary things.

Oh really? Professors, it seems, have a different take on this idea: many of them actually support it.

With new editions released on a more-frequent basis these days, Iâ??ve felt that students are being taken advantage of,â?? said Carl Bergemann, a business instructor at Arapahoe Community College, who eagerly signed on as a peer reviewer for Flat World. â??Because of that, last semester I didnâ??t use any textbooks, just articles from the popular press.â??

I really hope that Flat World Knowledge can be successful, because it will be great for students and good for the textbook publishing industry as a whole. I just hope that text book publishers donâ??t attempt to stifle innovation in the same way that the MPAA and RIAA are trying to do.

You can read more about Flat World Knowledge at their website, Flat World Knowledge.com. The Chronicle of Higher Education has a nice article about the company as well.

An Online Company Tries an Unexpected Publishing Model: Free Textbooks â?? Chronicle.com