Why are textbooks so expensive?
Older textboks were strictly “text” books. Today, however, photos and graphics on clay-based paper, teacher’s aids, software, templates, and other multi media add-ons have increased the classic textbook’s price to the bookstore. Also, for example, a chemistry text has a sales life of less than two years for the publisher. In order to recoup the initial research and development costs, the production costs, royalties and a bit of profit to satisfy stockholders and to begin new projects, the publisher must charge increasingly higher prices to cover those costs. Many esoteric works, in addition to the sales life, have a limited production. Costs tend not to decrease with sales decreases.
