The Snags

So why have none of these solutions really been implemented? Well, there a few reasons. When it comes to the animal of the used book market, any sales go directly to the bookstore, or else to the previous owner if you’re buying directly from them. The problem with this is that neither the publisher nor the author get any of the money from the transaction. The used book market takes them out of the equation, so they must make that money up somewhere. The publishers estimate how many sales they will lose on the used book market, and then up the price of new books to make up for this difference.  A lot of people like to point fingers at publishers, then, and think that the solution should start with them lowering prices or releasing new editions less frequently.  As it is pointed out in an article by digital media consultant manager Joseph Esposito, though, it is a little naive to think that a publisher wouldn’t come out with a new edition solely to improve the used book market and therefore hurt themselves!  Once a newer edition is in print, of course, no store will be willing to buy back the old one.  But the other flaw with blaming just the publishers is that book sales aren’t just a way for them to make money, or an extra cost for students, but a source of income for the schools, and the writers (often times professors themselves). The schools will buy used books at 15 to 25 percent of what they cost new, and then sell it for a much higher price (Barr).  Another, cheaper alternative, e-books, only made up about four percent of textbooks sales in 2011, and they too hurt the other parties involved in the making of text books (Barr). 

In regards to PackBack, the relatively new website will take a while to have any real effect on the marketplace.  The site currently has about 2500 titles, with more being added every day.  While this is impressive, the site needs to do a better job of advertising itself to really get their solution off the ground.  The other major component is to convince publishers to join their service, but why should they?  What would publishers have to gain from changing their ways, helping students get around the high prices that they themselves set?  The profit gained from PackBack rentals is hardly likely to add up to the amount they would have gained on the traditional market. 

In short, the methods commonly adopted by students to get around high prices often result in those same prices getting raised to cover the difference, and other temporary solutions are much the same.  Because of the dynamic, interwoven nature of the textbook market, any move made to benefit one group would likely hurt the other parties involved.