College Textbooks

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What is a textbook?

What is an ISBN  and how do I find it?

ISBN and UPC codes are unique catalogue numbers that identify a particular item. They can be usually be found on the back cover of your product. Pictured are some examples to help you find the ISBN or UPC number of your book. More tips on ISBN numbers: Some ISBNs end with an X; make sure you enter it as part of the ISBN. While books may have more than one UPC-like barcode, each book has a single ISBN

Why do college textbooks cost so much?

Textbooks are a unique type of book that costs more to produce. This alone is not the cause for the high cost of textbooks. Textbooks are priced higher than other books for the following reasons:

• Research costs and academic reviewing costs
• High grade acid free paper
• Full color printing
• Hard cover binding

These added costs raise the cost to produce a textbook, however there are other reasons why new textbook costs are higher than they need to be.

• Ancillary materials provided to the instructor for free
• Publisher marketing efforts
• Publisher changing editions more frequently

In general, a student pays for all of the additional costs of the textbook

What are custom edition textbooks?

Custom books are books that are created on a special order basis. The textbook is created in such a way that the instructor can choose which chapters he/she would like included. The publisher then prints them with then only print the portions desired and give the book a new ISBN before selling them to the college store. The advantages of these textbooks are very specialized content and moderate prices. The disadvantage is that they are not often bought back from the bookstore, the editions are changed frequently and the bookstore can typically only return 10% of the total amount originally purchased.

What are textbook packages?

Packages are a combination of textbooks, study guides and study aides put into a single unit for sale. These are designed by the publisher and not the bookstore. Most bookstores despise packages because they often contain items that are not needed by the student but cost the student more. The textbook package has been marketed to the student as a valuable content for less price. In reality, these packages are a marketing ploy to increase sales. Often it will be marketed that an item is included for free. It should be noted, when publishers are questioned about who paid for the free items, they hedge and dodge around the question. In many cases, the bookstore has no choice but to accept the package and can not return them if they are opened.