Remember when publishers were our partners in educating students? As an author—and as a teacher—I felt that way. But that seems like a long time ago at this point. Now we get high prices, faster revision cycles, unnecessary bundles, and forced rolls. Notice how all of these things solve the publishers’ own issues—not ours. These business practices are industry-wide, and I think it is time to put a stop to this type of behavior. There’s only one way to communicate this in a way they will understand: Choose another book. While we can’t force them to change, we do get a vote to influence them. We can send them a message in the choices we make:
You can speak up—you do get a vote. If you would like to send a message to all the big publishers, it’s really simple—just adopt a new book. Even if you and your department just make a change in one or two sections for next term, we will be sending a very clear message; we will not stand for this type of behavior from the people with whom we do business. Here’s the way I look at it. Let’s extend a hand. It’s time to invite our publisher friends back into our classrooms. The good ones might just take us up on our offer. But we’ll get nowhere if we don’t speak up. Believe me, if we move the needle even a few percentage points, they will notice. |
Postings
All the posts you see here have been, or will be, posted on my LinkedIn account. If you want to see them as they are released, follow me on LinkedIn: Archives
August 2020
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