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Textbooks
continued from page 17A
campus marketing for Thomson
Learning, a publishing company. Be
cause publishers sell fewer new text
books, they need to raise prices on
the books they do sell, which in turn
leads students to buy even more
used books.
“We now as publishers have to
earn back our investment in a much
shorter time,” he said. Hochheiser
said that publishers get the greatest
return on a book within the first few
years of its release.
Hochheiser also noted a number
of other factors that contribute to the
price of new books ranging from art
work and graphics, to marketing
costs to teaching aids, such as videos
and Web sites.
Printing new editions is one way
publishing companies keep a book
fresh, and stay competitive.
Hochheiser said that in addition to
wanting the newest information in a
textbook, “professors look at a copy
right year on a book. ”
Evon Smith of Smith Family
Bookstore sees a different motiva
tion in the frequent updates. She
said publishers put new editions out
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one after another as “their strategy to
close down the used book market.”
“Often times they’re updating
some information or adding differ
ent graphics,” she said, “and that
doesn’t radically change the text, but
it changes the edition enough that
students can’t use the old editions.”
Accordingly, Smith Family
Bookstore carries “a good selection
of those kinds of books that tend
not to change a lot year to year,
course to course,” she said. Smith
Family does not sell new textbooks,
but specializes in used books,
which it sells at 65 percent of the
new book price.
Other options for students looking
to cut costs include on-line book
buying, which ranges from sites
where students can post classified
ads to sell their textbooks, such as
Bookswap.com, to large Internet
sellers like Textbooks.com and Var
sitybooks.com. Both companies will
ship books for a $4.95 flat rate, and
claim to offer better prices than the
typical university bookstore.
Tom Gerald, University Bookstore
events coordinator, said many of these
book “e-tailers” initially offered “dis
counts an individual store couldn’t
match” in an attempt to undercut the
competition. However, Gerald said he
has heard from several customers who
have returned to the Bookstore as the
on-line sellers cut back their discounts
to comparable levels.
“We’re starting to see some of that
stuff balance out,” he said.
Looking at a random selection of 10
coursebooks, comparing prices be
tween Textbooks.com, Varsity
books.com and the University Book
store, seems to confirm this. Pricing
new books over a range of disciplines,
the University Bookstore, with its 10
percent discount, was as cheap or
cheaper than the on-line competitors
in nine out of 10 books, even before
shipping costs were factored in.
The best advice, of course, is to
shop around and compare prices
when possible.
As for the University Bookstore,
Murray said it is planning to play a
video continuously during the first
week of classes to educate students
about where the money goes. She also
said Bookstore staff are “very willing
to explain the process” to students
who may want more information.
“All of us here went to college —
most of us went to this University,”
she said. “We all are totally sympa
thetic to their plight.”
YOU ARE INVITED TO
Convocation 2000
WITH KEYNOTE SPEAKER
Daniel Schorr
NATIONAL PUBLIC RADIO
Senior news Analyst
Tuesday, October 10,2000
2:30 P.M.
ballroom
erb Memorial Union
Reception immediately following
Orders for academic regalia must be placed by
Thursday, September 28, 2000
To order, call the UO Bookstore, 346-4331 or email
nsh iraga@oregon. uoregon. edu
>.199600
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