Why are textbooks so expensive?

[nibot]

To: Editors, Academic Press
Subj: Why are books so expensive?

I've recently been wondering what it is that makes mathematics textbooks so expensive. For example, Enderton's book Elements of Set Theory, far from the most egregious example, costs more than $100 in our campus book store. It can't be printing an d distribution alone that account for this enormous cost -- similarly sized books often cost less than $20. The typesetting is more complex than books in many other fields (such as those books that contain only prose) yet even this must have been paid for long ago -- the book was originally published in 1977. I wonder if you could estimate, for my own curiosity, how much of the $100 textbook cost goes to the reseller, how much goes for distribution, how much for the direct publication costs, what percent goes to the author as royalty, etc.

thank you,
Tobin Fricke

EDIT: They responded!

Comments

[stahrreenite.livejournal.com]

Semi irrelevant, maybe... I have copy of Enderton's book I'm not using if you would like to borrow it for a semester.

[nibot.livejournal.com]

Yse, that might be nice.. although, for now I have the library copy to tide me over. I'd be curious to hear your thoughts on Math 135 vs. Math 142.

Re:

[stahrreenite.livejournal.com]

I didn't take 142. I took 140 and 141, though. 141 being the first, one might say "too-ballsy" route (friends at the time were in 214 as well and said that 214 was easier... 141 was taught by knutson), and 140 being the just get the geometry out of the way. i started in 135, and just couldn't take the teacher (or the material) seriously. rather than ruin my grades, i bailed midway. i HATE set theory. topology is beautiful.