Will the Kindle Change the World of Textbooks

Computer Science Teacher
Computer Science Teacher - Thoughts and Information from Alfred Thompson

Will the Kindle Change the World of Textbooks

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There is a lot of talk on the Internet today about Amazon's new electronic book called the Kindle. The talk among bloggers is largely about subscribing to blogs. Others are talking about books for, mostly, pleasure reading. I am wondering though if this technological innovation might be the thing that revolutionizes the textbook market.

Now I know that there have been electronic books for a while. But something just feels different about this one. Is it the wireless downloads and super simple means of getting the books on the device? Perhaps. There are 88,000 books available for it already. IS that enough to make it a tipping point? Maybe.  Is it that it has been designed by a company, Amazon, that seems to understand books as well as they understand technology? Perhaps that is part of it as well. Or perhaps something in the air says this is an idea whose time has come.

I could be wrong but here is the opportunity I see. Textbooks direct to Kindle. I can see a direct connection between authors and schools without the middleman. Or perhaps a reduced role for the middleman and a larger slice of the income for the author. I should interject with a disclaimer here - I've written several textbooks that have been published in hard copy by traditional publishers. I don't see a big percentage of the revenue from those books though. Would I like a larger net from a smaller selling price for my work? You bet!

This is what I see as a possible scenario. At the college level students get their Kindle their freshmen year. Perhaps bundled into tuition or perhaps as a "textbook fee." All their textbooks are ordered though a school branded portal at Amazon. At $10-15 a book the Kindle pays for itself the first semester. Easily! If the price of the book is spread among Amazon, publisher (maybe they supply editing and design expertise as well as some marketing) and the author everyone makes money. The author may even make more money than a conventional book. Very likely more students will buy the full slate of books for a course because they don't have to choose between buying books and eating so even the professor benefits because more students will have the books.

There are additional benefits for the students as well. They can take all their books with them all the time. Run into a classmate from Bio 203 and want to ask them about the diagram on page 234 just whip out the Kindle and open up. Need to look up a word use the built-in dictionary or perhaps look something up on Wikipedia. Ok some faculty might not appreciate wikipedia as a reference in a paper but for looking up something quickly it often does the job. How about deciding which textbooks to take home over a school break? Take them all - decision made.

I can see this working in K-12 as well. The initial cost of getting a Kindle in every student's hands is a little daunting but if a school or district can make that happen it becomes much less expensive to get a copy of every text book into every student's hands. Perhaps school agreements can be worked out the minimize the costs of both textbooks and assigned reading books. It would be worth a reduced purchase price to know that you could get schools to buy updated editions more often. Bye bye seven year replacement cycle. Now wouldn't that be cool! Publishers and authors who are willing to make a lower cost up on higher volume should do well in this model.

The Kindle has the ability to take notes in the book as well. So there you have a real study tool but I suspect that students are less likely to completely mess up their book and make it unreadable with doodles. Have you ever seen a grade school book after a student who didn't like the teacher/course/book has gotten finished "taking notes" in it?

The other thing I see as interesting is the potential for teachers to create their own books for use. They can create them in Word or Publisher or some other tool and at 10 cents a copy each student can get their own. You can't copy anything worth having onto paper for that cost to say nothing of binding costs. That might open some real creative doors for teachers.

Is Kindle the book that changes the world of textbooks in a dramatic way? I really don't know but it sure is interesting to think about the possibilities. BTW if you are going to order one use this link. Maybe I'll make a few bucks and get my wife to let me buy one of my own.

  • I really think you are on the right track here.  I was thinking last night that there is no way I would pay $400 bucks for this thing so I can read paperbacks on it.  Who cares if it can hold 200 paperbacks - you typically only read one at a time anyway.  Textbooks are a totally different case however.  If you are a student, how great would it be not to have to lug all of those textbooks around!  If they start making textbooks for e-readers I would not want to be in the business of selling backpacks! :)

  • I hope not. Is Kindle the book that changes the world of textbooks in a dramatic way? Computer Science Teacher - Thoughts and Information from Alfred Thompson : Will the Kindle Change the World of Textbooks First, the price!&#160;...

  • I work in Technology for a K-12 school district and the ability for students to carry around their text books instead of hauling around 5-6 large books all day would be incredible.  I know that this school year there was a delay in text books getting in and a few of our faculty not realizing that had already sent their books off assuming they would have replacements on the first day of school.  This could really reduce some of the burdens for public education

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