HOW TO CAST A VOTE AGAINST HIGH TEXTBOOK PRICES

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 

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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:

• Tell them you won’t stand for their practices. Demand better of them. You won’t know for sure unless you ask!
• If they won’t acquiesce, choose other providers. There are a bunch of low-cost providers like XYZ Textbooks.
• I don’t say this just to be negative to the big publishers. I’ve had good experiences with them throughout my long career. I feel like they’ve lost their way, and have forgotten about the students.

Honestly, my career in publishing has been wonderful. I feel truly grateful for the success I’ve enjoyed, and my publishing colleagues who helped me get there. But if I was starting my career as an author right now, would I want to write a book for any of the traditional publishers? The answer is, I’m not sure. Instead, I started my own company to do things differently, to put the focus back on the student.
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.