Are Etextbooks Affordable Now?
Lindsay McKenzie,
Inside Higher Ed,
May 01, 2018
For most people in the world, the answer to this question is still "no". I have always worked on the principle of a two-times-order-of-magnitude reduction in cost as the standard for digitization. The textbook that used to cost $60 should now cost $0.60. This loss of income is offset by a similar increase in the number of copies distributed. So the textbook that had a press run of ten thousand is now distributed to a million people. The failure by publishers to pass on the cost savings associated with digital distribution is met by those unable to afford the cost with the very reasonable response of unauthorized copying.
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