Is Your E-Book Watching You?

by Angela Kimball

Let’s be honest for a moment. If you have graduated high school and taken a few classes in college, you have probably skipped out a little on some of your assigned reading at one time or another over the duration of your educational career. Your teacher in grade school assigned book reports regularly and maybe you just listened well in class or you tried to catch the movie and hope the literature and theatrical versions were similar enough to pass the class. What about your American History class when you got bogged down with all the facts and dates about everyone involved in the wars and treaties? Any chance that possibly you had a big date coming up or it was the weekend of the basketball finals and your mind just was not focused in when you cracked open your textbook? Today, there is technology available that is capable of determining when a reader is actually hitting the books and can also provide information when the student skips pages or fails to engage in the book fully. Pretty soon, Santa will be using this technology to see who has been naughty and nice, but until then, you need to be aware that your e-book might possibly be watching you.

We know that Amazon and Barnes & Noble is thought to be collecting data from customers who purchase digital e-books. While the companies are tight-lipped about the data collected, the information could be very useful to know what readers are purchasing and what it is that they are truly reading and getting involved in when they pick up their e-readers. Publishers of college textbooks are taking advantage of the current technology to learn more about what chapters of the e-books are really useful to students and professors and to learn what areas are neglected. this knowledge is beneficial when it comes to editing for new editions of textbooks whether they are traditional bound texts or digital copies for e-books on e-readers.

Can you just picture little eyes on your e-book staring at you as you read the text? How would you like your teacher or professor to stand over your shoulder as you munch on cold pizza and pull an all-nighter studying for the mid-semester exam tomorrow morning? With the new CourseSmart technology, this is not as far off and extraordinary as it might seem. Professors at select universities are testing the new technology currently and this pilot program will be expanded even more next autumn with the start of the new school year.

Professors won’t just be able to look at your tests and quizzes and average out your homework anymore. Now, your professor can have access to data that tells her or him just how often you read your e-book and even have the specifics of which portions of the assigned text you have read or chosen to omit. I don’t know about you, but there were several times in school that I picked up what I needed to know from classroom discussions and a quick skimming of my assigned textbook reading. I was a decent student, but I’m not sure how I’d feel if someone were watching over me like Big Brother, but as a parent, I think this information would be marvelous to help focus efforts for my kids. Is the information collected while reading e-books simply helpful for teachers, parents, and publishers or is it breaching our right to privacy?

In the past, teachers and parents had to make an educated guess as to whether or not Johnny or Susie read the assignment. It was easy to tell those students who hadn’t done the work at all by looking at the visual clues on their faces during a discussion about the piece or simply asking them questions about the literature. The struggle came when a student has comprehension difficulties or simply skimmed the assignment without putting forth their full potential. Now, with CourseSmart, your professor can simply take a glance at your engagement index. This reference can be used to identify students who may be falling behind, struggling with finding adequate study time, and other difficulties. On the other hand, the engagement index can identify students with good study habits and those who seem to be lucky and gather the bulk of their information in other ways through classroom discussion, for example.

CourseSmart doesn’’t just provide information about students by class period, date, or course level. This technology actually separates the data down so that individual records can be monitored and tracked regularly. Critics of this technology are unsure of how well it can measure significant learning, but supporters of the project feel the data and information collected is rather useful in a number of applications.

Be aware that your e-book might be eyeing you this year at college or even when purchased from specific companies. The information collected from such tracking seems to have several applications and advantages, but if you are anxious about the feeling of reading over your shoulder, you might want to stick to the traditional bound books and turn your own pages if you want to skip a few.

Source:

Topics.nytimes

.com/topics/reference/times topics/subjects/t/textbooks/index.html

By Angela Kimball

In our society today, a good education is highly valued. With the current economy, a college education is quite possibly even more important than it has been in years past. Recently I had called the Information Line to listen to the top stories in the news and my local weather. I was surprised to learn that to obtain a job in Massachusetts in a McDonald‘s restaurant, you must have a college degree and a year or two of experience. The job market is so full of people looking for a job that to be a cashier in a fast-food restaurant you need a college degree to compete with the other candidates applying for the position. Knowing the enormous advantage of a higher education, you definitely want to go to college and soak up all that knowledge, but what happens when your education conflicts with another area of great value to you?

Another area of considerable concern to our society is the environment. Everybody seems to be going green these days. We are all learning how to do things organically, how to reuse and recycle our items, and how to conserve our natural resources so we can take better care of Mother Earth. When you stop to consider all the pages needed to make a college textbook, you probably ask yourself just how many trees it takes to make textbooks. While your college education is important, should you be worried about the serious impact of college textbooks on the environment? Are you expanding your carbon footprint with every semester? How do you measure the value of the trees versus the knowledge gained from a quality college textbook?

Each year of college, a typical student buys between 17 and 20 college textbooks. For a typical four years of college, you can assume that you will purchase approximately 75 college textbooks. To help determine the average length of a traditional college textbook, a company selected college textbooks of various subjects. After choosing ten of the typical texts, they added up the number of pages for each and learned that the average college textbook has approximately 715 pages. How does this relate to the environment and in what ways would this compare to the value of your college education?

Now that we know how many pages it takes to make a college textbook, we need to practice our math skills to figure out the environmental impact. According to conserveatree.org, you can produce a yield of about 8,300 pages from a single tree that is approximately 40 feet tall. We get 11.6 textbooks on average from a tree, so with the average 75 books to receive your degree, you’ll use up about a half dozen trees if you purchase all new college textbooks. You might want to start planting a couple trees to make up for what you will be using.

Yes, planting trees is always a fantastic idea and a great way to help the environment, there are other ways to reduce your impact on the environment. Don’t give up on your college education in lieu of saving the environment. Recycle your college textbooks and sell them to get extra cash and to help conserve trees. Purchasing used books is another terrific option to lower the dependency on trees for textbooks. If you purchase just 1/3 of your textbooks as a pre-owned text, you will personally save more than two trees over your college career. If you purchase used books, you’ll save money and help the planet and who doesn’’t think that is a fabulous idea?

With the significant benefit of higher education and the need for a degree to gain employment, college students must consider the need of textbooks over the environment and use of trees to create new editions of college textbooks, however, it is definitely a responsible idea to consider opportunities to reduce the need for new textbooks being printed. College students who value their environment will want to consider the economical and environmentally-friendly idea of buying used college textbooks to study during the duration of their college career. Recycling college textbooks by passing them on to another student directly or by selling the textbooks to be recycled and recirculated, is yet another opportunity to conserve trees and reduce your carbon footprint. Being environmentally conscious when it comes to college textbooks is easy. You don’t have to sacrifice your education for your concern about the environment.

Sources:

www.Conserveatree.org

www.earth911.com

E-Readers Exposed: Losing Your Library

By Angela Kimball

So you’ve decided to pick up one of the new e-readers. You have been pricing the Nook, Kindle, and other devices to read the cool e-books. You have considered the distraction factor and weighed the cost versus the convenience of switching from traditional bound books to digital texts. Here is just one more thing to consider before taking the purchase plunge to buy your new e-reader.

One of the biggest conveniences of digital books is the ease and convenience of keeping them on a small and compact e-reader. You can avoid lugging around your stack of novels and heavy textbooks in a cumbersome backpack and replace this bulky load with a simple technology that brings a tiny library right into your hands.

You might be surprised to learn that there is a drawback to the convenience of having your own portable library. If you happen to lose your e-reader, you have lost quite an investment. Not only are you out the cash you have invested in the e-reader itself, but you are now out the cost of the numerous e-books that you had stored on the e-reader.

Dropping your Nook or Kindle can be dangerous. A tablet used for reading digital content and e-books is compact and convenient, but if you are a butterfingers, you can be in trouble. Should you happen to damage your e-reader, you can lose your entire library. This could leave you hanging at the high point in a cliffhanger novel, but would be much more serious if you had your college textbook stored on the e-reader.

The mid-semester exam is coming up and you have just realized that your e-reader was damaged. So you want to rant and carry on about losing your e-reader, however, you need to get yourself together and come up with an alternative way to study for the upcoming test. Sure you could borrow your roommate’s textbook but they need to study, as well. You could always make a trip to the local bookstore or hope to snag a copy of the textbook from the campus bookstore, but that gets pretty pricey very quickly. The library might have a copy of your college textbook, but usually it would be in the reference section and not able to be borrowed and checked out, so imagine the inconvenience that would be until you purchased a new e-reader and e-book.

Losing your entire personal library would take some serious effort with traditional bound books, but with the new, digital books, it is not completely unheard of or out of the question. Accidentally misplacing your tablet or e-reader could leave your with quite a dilemma. Everyone has dropped their laptop computer or cell phone and if the screen didn’’t crack or the device didn’’t shatter, you were lucky. This is true for an e-reader, as well. While the e-readers are durable, it is inevitable that over time, the device will break and you will have lost your entire library and access to information until you replace the e-reader and the e-books. Before you make the final purchase and order that new e-reader you have been eyeing, this is something you will want to truly consider.

Source:

http://blog.fusedtechnologies.com/2011/advantages-and-disadvantages-of-e-readers/

E-readers Exposed: Cost for Convenience

By Angela Kimball

The new craze in reading is e-books and e-readers. The new digital technology is starting to catch on due to the excellent convenience. The e-reader with the digital content is very portable and makes it easy for you to bring several books with you when you travel. The lightweight e-reader is convenient to carry and takes up much less space than a stack of college textbooks or novels, for example. All of this convenience comes at a price though.

Consumers are willing to pay for convenience. New gadgets are always springing out into the marketplace and familiar technology is advancing and bringing us newer and better models, for instance. It seems everyone wants what is hot in technology right now and e-readers have been no exception to this phenomenon.

To purchase an e-reader, you must make an investment. Depending on whether you buy a new or used model and what brand you purchase, it is common to spend over $140 for an e-reader. Furthermore, you will have to purchase e-books to put on your e-reader. Occasionally, you can come across a good book for free for your e-reader, but don’t count on this option to get you the desired texts you are wanting to read.

If you are accustomed to borrowing books from the library, you will be now forced to give up this option for the most part when it comes to using your e-reader. The days of trading a good novel with your best friend is usually out of the question, as well.

Do you love to shop from the local used bookstore? It is always fun to peruse the used bookstore to see what literature you can find. I always seem to walk away with a fine treasure or two after such a trip. If you are the type of person who enjoys this activity and the price of the used books, an e-reader might not be right for you. The cost of e-books is considerably more significant that the price of a good used book that you could find at your local bookstore.

If you like hunting a good bargain, the digital e-books for the e-reader will be more costly than the texts you are familiar with purchasing. Any avid reader has probably picked up a classic or favorite novel at a garage sale over the years. I loved to pick up a stack of books for summer reading for a couple bucks while checking out garage sales on a nice spring day. Your e-reader won’t offer you the chance to snatch up such great literature at bargain prices. This change to the new technology can really take a bite out of your budget.

While the new technology of digital e-books and e-readers is convenient, there is a price. Readers cannot trade good texts or swap books from the library every few weeks like they can with traditional printed books. The cost of e-books for new texts might be fairly comparable, but if you are accustomed to purchasing used books, you will see a significant increase in cost. Plus, you must consider the original investment of the e-reader. Cost versus convenience is a true consideration when considering e-books and e-readers.

Source:

http://blog.fusedtechnologies.com/2011/advantages-and-disadvantages-of-e-readers/

Would Einstein Have Been Einstein If He Had Facebook?

By Angela Kimball

Albert Einstein has certainly made his mark in the world. The areas of math and science wouldn’’t be the same as we know it today if it were not for his findings and accomplishments. People even comment in jest about their “little Einstein” when their child does something they consider brilliant or remarkable. Do you think Einstein would have been as famous if he lived today during this current era of internet and social media? Would little Al have been engrossed in studying or would he have gotten wrapped up in Facebook and chatting with his friends on his iPhone?

Many of us know Albert Einstein for his work on the theory of relativity. Einstein was a persistent individual and he was not unfamiliar to failure. Did you know that at one point, he was not accepted into the university of his choice when he first applied because he failed the entrance exam? In fact, he wound up going to trade school for a year instead. The following year, was when he tried again and finally made the grade.

I wonder what would have happened if our buddy Al had logged onto Facebook the day of the entrance exam and posted that he failed geography, history, etc.? While he had passed the science and math portions, the rest of the test was more difficult. Do you think his friends would have encouraged him to keep trying or would they have said to just hit the trade school to go find a job in plumbing or medical billing?

Maybe when Einstein hit the web, he got hooked into Farmville or was a major gamer on his Xbox and played regular tournaments on Modern Warfare 3. Is it possible that he would not have picked up a book? Teens these days get sucked into playing on their IPhones and IPads. Do you think Einstein would have gotten involved in serious Angry Bird games to pass the time, or do you think he would have made the effort to take time to crack open his college textbook to master math, for example?

After Albert Einstein was born, it was noted that his own mom suspected that he was deformed. Einstein’s head was so large that she had her concerns about her son. Even after he died in 1955, his brain was studied and found to be different from that of the average man‘s brain. Was he predisposed to learning? Hmmm…

The subjects of math and science would not be the same without the influence of Albert Einstein. I’’m grateful that he was around in a time that was not digitally dominated with technology that can overwhelm and consume individuals. Although we all can be disciplined and steer clear of the slippery slope of the internet and gismos, it does seem that fewer of us are delving into a good book for recreation or the joy of learning these days. Facebook is so popular now that 95% of internet shoppers have an account with Facebook.

Several people are heading back to school after high school to earn a college degree and to further their education. Most of these individuals are thinking ahead to advance or secure a career. In this economy, it seems a college education can make a significant difference when it comes to gaining employment. Do you think Einstein may have simply looked at attending the university simply to get a jumpstart on his career or do you think he would have used such as a stepping stone to achieve the greatness that he is so famous for today? Is it possible that the productivity and brilliance of Albert Einstein would have been lost to the world of social media? The world will never know, but it is something interesting to ponder. As we look at our own “little Einstein”, we might seriously want to remember to pass on the love for books and education to help to keep your genius on track to greatness.

Sources:

www.neatorama.com/2007/03/26/10-strange-facts-about-einstein/

www.businessvibes.com/blog/15-facebook-facts-will-shock-you

E-readers Exposed: Digital Books Equal Distractibility

By Angela Kimball

The new craze for folks that love to read is digital books. We’ve all heard about the Kindle and Nook, for example. Such devices and other e-readers have helped to move hardback and paperback books into e-books for downloading and reading on e-readers and tablets. Reading for recreation on e-readers and iPads is becoming more popular. Now, e-books are expanding into college textbooks and even texts for high school learning. How do you think the e-books and e-readers compare to traditional hardback textbooks when it comes to studying? Recreational reading on digitized texts can offer a different experience than picking up your favorite paperback novel and delving into the pages.

Digital books equal distractibility in many instances.

Sometimes the lighting on an e-reader makes it difficult to read the text on the screen. It is usually something that can be adjusted with controls on the e-reader or simply by changing position to an area with optimal lighting, but having to adjust for glare, for instance, is not so much a concern with a traditional bound book.

E-readers come equipped with tons of bells and whistles to attract a buyer and to offer numerous technical options for the user. While the extras are handy to have around when you need them, they can be very distracting when you are trying to read a book, let alone study.

Could you imagine sitting in the library with your e-reader trying to go over a chapter in your economics textbook for college when you start to zone out a little and get bored. Your tablet, for instance, offers that handy web browser and you could just Google anything, check out you tube.com, or IM a friend. Even if you can stay focused and on the task at hand, you suddenly get an alert the you have mail in your e-mail inbox. Now, your brain is thinking about your e-mail messages, who it is from and what they are wanting to tell you.

If you went to a quiet room to read the very same chapter in your economics textbook with a traditional bound textbook, your efforts would not be hampered by all the distractions of an e-reader. You could focus on the book and the written material and even highlight important facts or vocabulary or make notes in the margin on the page for future reference.

Digital books have some definite advantages such as convenience of pulling information up quickly and not having to lug around heavy textbooks or novels, for instance. You can have a mini library at your fingertips, but at what cost? Not only is an e-reader pricey and you still can pay about the same cost for a digital copy of a book as you would a traditional printed text, but the e-readers almost have too many perks that it takes away from the reading experience. People are bombarded regularly with things to steer them away from enjoying good literature. Don’t let your e-reader curb your enthusiasm for reading or ability to study by opening the door for so many distractions.

Advantages Of Hands-On Learning With Hard copy Books

By Angela Kimball

The new fad these days is to pick up your tablet or e-reader to peruse a good novel or read some texts on a topic you wish to learn more about. Numerous e-readers have hit the market such as the Nook from Barnes & Noble or the Kindle line of products associated with Amazon. Don’t overlook the popular iPad products that allow users to download literature for reading at will. Do the new e-readers, with their grand technology, make hardback and paperback books old fashioned and antiquated?

As the world goes digital, there are some advantages that come along with the progress. With electronic books, you can access several types of literature from one device. It can be handy to have a college textbook, your current favorite novel and a biography for your English course all securely stored on your Nook, for instance. Plus, you have the added benefit of avoiding paper cuts with electronic books.

Price for e-books and regular printed literature does not vary as much as one might think. The e-books are not priced to sell, for example, when you compare prices.

Despite the wonder of the technology, the e-readers are offering a disadvantage to readers. If a college student is studying for a semester exam, it might be helpful for the student to make note of certain pieces of information from the material in the assigned textbook. Turning to Chapter 3 in the textbook with an e-reader is not a problem, but things get tricky when the student wants to highlight the text about microbes and how they respond to antibiotics. This is where having a printed book in your hands can make a real difference.

There is just something about holding an actual book in your hands that makes such a connection between the printed word and the text on the page. Electronic books are fine for recreational reading, but when you are wanting to absorb the material, it is definitely best to pick up a hardcopy book that is bound with pages and the printed word. You can follow along with your eyes and physically turn the page as you read the text. The simple act of moving your hand to transfer the paper from one side to the other seems to click something in your brain and allows you to pay more attention to what you are reading. When you are finished with the page, you can simply bend the corner down to mark your spot or place a note card inside the book with notes you have jotted down to use as a bookmark.

Distractibility seems to be a problem for several individuals. We hear a lot in the news about ADD, ADHD, and other conditions making it difficult for someone to concentrate and focus on the task at hand. If you struggle with a lack of concentration or simply want to boost your ability to focus, you might want to consider putting down your tablet or e-reader and picking up the time-tested book. All this new technology comes with so many bells and whistles that it is possible to be distracted simply by the device that you are using to read.

We have all been in a movie theatre, at church, or even in a meeting when a cell phone starts going off. We were trying to concentrate on the task at hand whether it was to follow the plot of the flick, listen to a sermon, or focus on the speaker’s presentation. The ringing of the phone or catchy clip from a popular tune interrupts you and it takes a period of time to get back on track. That is what happens when you are trying to pay attention to an e-book on your tablet, for instance. Think for a moment that you are heavily engrossed in the new book in a series of novels you have been reading and the trusty sidekick has just been attacked.

Bing! Your device proudly alerts you with the familiar audible sound. Seems you have email. Do you continue with the dramatic scene in the book or pause to see just who has sent you the message? Hmmm…

Such a distraction is one thing when reading for recreation, but if you were really trying to get some actual studying done, do you think your brain would still be zeroing in on the task at hand?

Parents sending their children off to college might want to think about the e-readers versus traditional college textbooks. Textbooks are not cheap, but neither are the e-reader devices. If your son or daughter loses or accidentally damages his or her college textbook, that wouldn’t be good. A single college textbook to replace could cost a couple hundred dollars, but losing or damaging an e-reader will cost about the same amount. Parents and students alike then have to struggle with replacing all the lost information of the e-books that were stored on the device. Imagine the cost to resolve that issue, as well as the time involved if the student had every course’s textbook stored on the tablet, Nook, or Kindle. Parents warn your children not to carry their proverbial eggs all in one basket, so to speak as a life lesson and in this instance it is sound advice.

The digital phenomenon is certainly here to stay, but with the advantages of standard books, parents and students need to take a serious look at whether or not e-readers are right for meeting their needs. Printed materials in your hand can really make things stick in your mind more effectively than reading from an e-book. Hardcopy textbooks have the benefit of space to take notes in the margin or the option to highlight passages for ease during studying. Traditional texts can be more cost-effective and have stood the test of time and certainly still have their place in this digital world.

Purchasing Power: Buying Textbooks vs. Textbook Rental

By Angela Kimball

If you have ever taken a college course, you know that the professor will assign certain texts for class and that means a trip to the college bookstore on campus, cruising the local bookstore, or searching online for the required textbooks. On your quest for the textbooks, you want to save all the cash you can. Whether the high price of the textbooks will be coming directly out of your pocket or paid with help from financial aid, it never hurts to save a few dollars and cents. You may have heard about textbook rental along the way. Renting a college textbook may sound like a pretty good idea at first, but have you ever considered the benefits of renting your college textbooks when compared to actually buying the books up front? Each option has some advantages and disadvantages. We’ll take a look at both options and try to determine which option is right for you.

First, let’s take a look at renting as an option for obtaining a college textbook. Some real advantages are available with this choice. To rent a college textbook sounds like a good plan at a cost of nearly half of purchasing a book from the campus bookstore.

Many rented textbooks are available online in a digital format. This convenience can allow you to access your textbook while at a library, a coffee shop via your laptop, or in the comfort of your dorm. Renting college textbooks in hardcover editions are much like using a copy of the textbook you purchased, however, you can only use this option successfully if you know you can take excellent care of the textbook. If you plan to use your textbook for studying and like to underline or highlight specific portions of text, then renting a college textbook is not for you. You will incur several extra fees or charges if a rented textbook is returned damaged in any way. So if your dog snacks on your science textbook instead of your homework, this could be a costly mistake.

Losing a textbook is another serious downfall for renting a college textbook. If you should accidentally lose the book you are renting, you will have to pay to replace it.

Purchasing a textbook for your courses can be rather costly in the beginning. The good news is that after you are done with the class, you are free to do what you wish with the textbook. If you desire, you may keep the textbook to refer to for reference during other classes or for your years after college. You might want a refresher for certain topics while on the job. If you are a nurse, for instance, some textbooks with certain medical terms may be of interest years later. This is especially true for subjects that do not change frequently or become easily outdated.

Programs that purchase college textbooks are pretty common. If you purchased a college textbook new for $120, you could sell that textbook after the semester for approximately $80. Your net cost for the book was only $40 for that book. You were free to take notes in the book, as well.

If you are the typical college student, your schedule varies and plans change from day to day. This is especially true during crunch time around finals and the chaos shortly thereafter preparing for the holiday break or summer vacation ahead. During the busy time at the end of the semester, do you want to have to worry about returning a rented book on time to avoid a penalty fee? If you are extremely organized, then textbook rental might be right for you, but if not, be wary of the idea and heavily consider purchasing your textbooks. Buying a textbook allows you to sell it at your convenience without concerns about a particular due date. You can skip the late charges and fees with ownership of the textbook. We have all rented a movie and at one point or another returned it late to realize we owed money. This is something everyone wants to avoid and it is true with textbook rentals, too.

Your time table is something to think about when deciding whether to buy or rent your textbooks. If you can plan ahead for your classes, then renting a textbook gives you the chance to look around online and hunt down a good bargain. Do be careful that you allow yourself enough time to get the rented textbook mailed to you at your home before leaving for college or sent to your dorm in time before the first exam. Buying a book locally or at the campus bookstore is an excellent option if you are limited on time and can’t risk the wait for the mail to arrive.

Buying college textbooks, as well as renting, are both good options when it comes to securing your books for the semester. It is important to look at the advantages and disadvantages of both options before making your final decision. Textbook rental seems to be more cost-effective, but when you consider the hidden fees, sometimes renting textbooks is not as reasonably priced as it seems. Buying college textbooks offers the advantage of flexibility with your time and freedom to write in the book to make studying easier and more convenient. Plus, it has the advantage of selling the textbook in the future to help to recover some of the initial cost for the item. For most students, it seems the buying college textbooks is still the best option and has the advantage of textbook rental.

Textbook Costs Unfairly Under the Microscope When Compared to Tuition Costs

By Angela Kimball

In today’s economy, it seems that the price of everything is going up and that our purchasing power has slumped. I’m sure you have read about or heard press coverage regarding the high cost of expensive college textbooks. It is true that on average, a typical college student will spend approximately $700 to $900 on college textbooks in a year. Don’t get me wrong, this is a significant amount of money, but when you consider the expense of college tuition, it seems that the news media is unfairly placing the cost of college textbooks under the microscope.

If you are going to take the time to go to college, you certainly want to get a good education. Tuition accounts for a significant portion of the cost associated with a college education. Since tuition covers the cost of the academic instruction you receive, some feel that you get what you pay for in terms of education. A student that pays in-state tuition to a community college will need a budget of nearly $22,000 for a year of college in the 2012-13 academic year. This cost is almost half of the cost associated with a year of college at a private school. A reasonable budget for a private school is just over $43,000 per year. Consider how high tuition costs would be for a high-end college or Ivy League institution.

When thinking about the extreme cost of tuition, the price of college textbooks is an expense that barely factors into the picture. Other costs such as fees for room and board, transportation expenses to and from campus and bus passes around the university are also liabilities to consider in a college student’s budget. Some universities bundle a charge for phone or internet into the dorm fees. Do you hear the news harping on schools for their expensive meal programs that the campus dining halls provide? How often do you read about the expensive bus passes or application fees? All of these expenses seem to be viewed as minor costs for the college student, but they all add up.

College textbooks are expected to be of the highest quality. Students and professors want to know that they are getting the most accurate information about the subject matter. The cost of a textbook needs to offer enough funds to cover the printing of the material, the costs of getting the book to the consumer via a store, shipping, etc. Publishers must also cover fees for tracking and prosecuting any book pirates. When you look at these areas, do you wonder what is left to secure quality authors?

Instead of picking at a small college expense, people may want to look more closely at where the majority of a college student’s budget is spent. Tuition costs have risen nearly 500% when inflation during the same time period rose only approximately 115%. It is about time to focus in on the big picture when it comes to costs for a college student’s annual budget.

Sources:

http://inflationdata.com/Inflation/Inflation_Articles/Education_Inflation.asp

http://www.dailyfinance.com/…/college-costs-tuition-rising-student-debt-…

http://www.ed.gov/about/bdscomm/list/acsfa/txtbkpres/doranremarks.pdf

https://www.collegedata.com/cs/…/content_payarticle_tmpl.jhtml?…

Myths About Pirated Books

Today I got five emails from authors all alerting me to a website that had 32 of our books and an equal number of other publishers’ books on it, scanned in and uploaded as PDFs for anyone to freely download. If it sounds like harmless sharing to you, please read this post and educate yourself on pirating.

First, the background: people loves to steal our books. Libraries and bookstores have claimed for years that some of their most frequently stolen stock are the religious books – anything from the Bible to those on witchcraft and magic. Whether this comes from a belief that all sacred knowledge should be free, a desire to hold onto a book containing so much wisdom (or so many exercises that can’t all be gotten through in the three-week lending period!), or, in the case of witchcraft books, concern that others in their small community might find out that the reader has an interest in these topics, and thus be “outed,” it’s always seemed a little strange anyway. If you’re specifically looking for a book on spirituality, doesn’t that imply that you’re trying to make yourself a better person? In that case, why start off on the wrong foot by stealing a book?

With this pattern having been in place for years, it should shock no one that in the digital age this would quickly translate over to stealing spirituality ebooks in any form. The music industry has wrestled with illegal downloads for years – we all know there are file sharing programs and sites that easily circumvent established means of distribution.

This is what a copyright notice looks like, stupid pirater.

The website I was sent multiple times today is a repeat offender. I won’t post a link here because I don’t want to drive traffic to her site. Let’s just say that she has a nifty little disclaimer about how she got all these PDFs of ebooks off the internet (presumably absolving herself of responsibility, having not scanned them in herself) and that as far as she knows they are not violating anyone’s copyright. And if she is in error, to please let her know. (I guess there was something about the COPYRIGHT PAGE of each of our books that she failed to understand.)

Llewellyn, Red Wheel/Weiser, and other publishers have notified this person, by writing to the email address listed on the website, several times. And yet that notice is still up, and our books are still there for illegal downloading. So today (after the very first email I received) we sent a DCMA takedown notice to her ISP, and hopefully those pages of her website will be removed soon. [Update: it looks like it's working. I'll check again from home, and again tomorrow.]

But since I kept hearing about it all day, regardless of our invisible-to-the-outside-world actions (which are things we deal with every day, incidentally), I wanted to post a few thoughts for you all to consider and hopefully discuss.

MYTHS ABOUT PIRATED BOOKS

“It doesn’t cost them anything to make an ebook, so why should I pay for it?”

This one I’ve also heard for legal, paid downloads, except in that case it goes “It doesn’t cost them anything to make an ebook, so why should I pay a normal book price for it? It should cost only $1.99/[insert your own price here]. I mean, I even had to buy a device to read it in the first place.”

Here’s the thing. First of all, an author wrote that book. They spent hundreds of hours researching, writing, editing, proofing, revising, communicating with their publisher, and in many cases, teaching, lecturing, writing a blog, marketing, etc. in order to have their good name in the field, in order for their manuscript to be desirable for publication. So that’s one person that should be paid for their effort.

Secondly, multiple people are involved in publishing a good book:

the editor who carefully selects, acquires, contracts and develops it (that’s me, in this case),
the editors who copy edit and proof it (the production editor, layout designer, and proofreader), the marketing team that writes the back cover copy, web copy, catalog copy, and so on, the cover designer who created a cover, the publicity team that sends out a press release, galley, or review copy to your favorite Pagan podcaster, the accounting staff who send out the royalty checks and pay our bills, the IT department that converts our book files to ePub formats and keeps our websites and servers running.

These are all fixed costs, whether the book comes out in print or digital (unless the author is self-published, in which case he or she can have more control over the pricing of the book and also gets to keep more of the profit). If you add a print release (not digital-only) then you can add the sales staff, customer service, and the warehouse crew. Basically the only thing you’re taking out of the entire equation by downloading an ebook is the cost of paper, printing, and distribution (trucking, shipping, etc.), and the people who make sure the physical copies get sent to the customers, whether those are bookstores or people. So are you still so convinced that your ebook should only cost a dollar? Or nothing?
“It’s the same as borrowing a book from a library, or from a friend.”

Um, except for the fact that the library bought a copy of the book, or your friend bought a copy of the book. (Even libraries that now do digital lending.) And that they have a finite number of copies (physical or digital) that they are able to lend out at any given time – not a file that can be downloaded over and over again in the blink of an eye by complete strangers all over the world.

Let me put it this way – surely you would lend $10 to a friend in need. But would you put up your PayPal account details on the internet for the world to see with a note that says “hey, feel free to borrow ten bucks”? If you did, I’m guessing you’d go broke immediately, unless you have some very deep pockets.

“But publishers have very deep pockets.”

Maybe some do – but I’ve never worked for a publisher that does. We’re talking about Pagan books here. It’s a niche. We hope to sell 5,000 copies if the book is to be successful. (And, not to shake your confidence in the system or anything, but some of our books only sell hundreds of copies and we don’t make a dime.) We are not selling Harry Potter here! We are not flying our authors around on world tours or taking them out for three-martini lunches! Being an independent, midsized publisher in a small field is not a license to print money.

Here is a great quote to illustrate the situation, written by Colin Robinson, who formerly worked for a large New York publisher:

Books have always been a low-profit item and in recent years margins have been shrinking even further. Publishers now regularly give bookshops a 50 per cent or even a 55 per cent discount on the retail price. The distributor that warehouses and delivers the book will typically take 10 per cent of what remains, or more if you are a small publisher; 15 per cent goes on production (printing, paper, typesetting). Add another 10 per cent for the author’s royalties and the publisher is left with 10 per cent to cover promotion costs, rent and office expenses, wages – and profit. No wonder it’s called the gentleman’s profession.
“But authors have deep pockets.”

While you wait for me to stop laughing, did you notice the author’s royalty in the quote above? It’s not much, and it can actually be even less depending on the genre, the format of publishing, and a variety of other factors. Authors don’t have deep pockets either – they cannot afford to give you their book for free. If they could, they would! (And some actually have, just as many musicians are now releasing their music and letting their fans decide what to pay for it.)

Most authors support themselves with full-time jobs in addition to writing and enriching their communities. The very few who don’t work a “day job” have to tour and teach constantly to make a salary to live off of. Some even sell potions, spells, or courses on the internet to add a little income. And yet they still provide plenty of free content on their websites, blogs, facebook pages and other media. They are more than willing to share – up to a point. If they approach a publisher to publish their book, it means, by default, that they want to get paid for it. It has value. So do them a favor and buy their book if you appreciate their work and want to make sure that they continue to write for, communicate with, and teach the community in the future.

“But it’s all over the internet anyway…”

Go ahead and read all the free blog posts you want. Learn about Wicca by putting together information from ten different websites. Go ahead and search for that certain spell you need on Google. Not sure what to do for next month’s full moon? Just type it into the search box. Go onto the Internet Sacred Text Archive or Patheos and learn about the world’s religions. These are all perfectly valid ways to get information. There are TONS of free resources on the internet – ones that are given freely by their creators. (Perhaps because they have ad revenue they can rely on. Perhaps they just do it out of the goodness of their heart.) So why do people even feel the need to download whole books in the first place? By wanting to download a book more than you want to read a website or blog (etc.), you are admitting that it has a certain value that is greater than what you can browse for free. The sum is greater than its parts. So please, pay for it.

“But I’m poor, I can’t afford to buy these books myself…”

See the above list of free resources. And visit your local library.
“But I wasn’t even sure I would like it, so why pay money on it?”

In today’s book-buying world, that is no longer an excuse. You can get previews of just about any books online, either at Amazon, GoogleBooks, or the publisher’s own website. You can browse reviews from other readers on GoodReads or other retailers’ websites. You can visit the author’s website or blog and see if you like their writing style or agree with their ideas. You can ask your facebook friends if they ever read the book and would recommend it.

“Information should be free!”

I totally agree, to a point. Information is what permeates the very fabric of the universe; information is as basic and integral to life itself as light, and so far no one is charging for light. Information is heady and exciting. Hermes/Mercury, the god of communication, is also the god of tricksters and thieves, so it’s not unreasonable to expect he’d be encouraging illegal downloads.

However, he is also god of merchants – trading, bartering, and yes, paying for goods and services. If you step back and look at the big picture, information is just a type of energy. And energy is never static, it must be exchanged. Money is also a form of energy – it’s how our minutes and hours of toiling away at something we might not always like get converted into poker chips we can trade in for things we like better. Therefore, it’s not only acceptable to use the energy of money in exchange for the energy of information – it’s divine. Like the universe itself, you are keeping energy in balance, in motion, in an unbroken chain, just as it likes.

- http://www.llewellyn.com/blog/2012/01/myths-about-pirated-books/