Anatomy of a Textbook Part One – “The Top 100”

Anatomy of a Textbook

– Part One –

“The Top 100”

By Bill Buxton at Textbook Equity

bill@textbookequity.com
January 24, 2011

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 Anatomy of a Textbook Part One – “The Top 100”

Introduction
This analysis is motivated by curiosity, a curiosity driven by the need to understand textbook
pricing, ultimately asking, “What IS an appropriate price for a textbook?” Many claim that
textbook prices are too high, that unnecessary editions are created to inhibit resale values, and
that much of the content is not used in the course, having too much “academic fat”.

So, as with any product analysis, we decided to dissect textbooks – what are their physical
features - # of pages, their weight, how much space they take up – and what’s selling, for how
much, and by whom. Future reports will focus on cost drivers in the textbook manufacturing
process, wasted space, the impact of digital and hybrid textbooks, the implications of the open
education resources movement, and whatever else might help in creating factual analyses and
assist in informed decision making. (But we maintain the right to draw subjective and best-
guess-conclusions from the evidence at hand until that evidence changes.)

So, how much should a textbook or any formalized, vetted, quality-checked, educational content
cost?

Assuming the top 100 ranked amazon.com sales is a fair sampling of the textbook market (which
it may not be, but is probably close enough) and previous analysis of the cost structure of the
textbook industry1, we affirm that that prices can be much, much lower – 50 to 85% lower in
fact.

How? Introduce price competition into the industry. Prices are kept high because there is little
price competition between publishers for the same level of textbooks; tax dollars in the form of
student loans and financial aid provide subsidies; and campus bookstores, with the implicit or
explicit cooperation of college administrators, exercise their locational monopolistic powers.
(Foothill College Bookstore, for example, often lists ISBN numbers that are not found elsewhere
in the Internet universe, thus inhibiting comparison-shopping.2)

Similar to the leading drug companies, the traditional textbook publishers spend considerable
dollars producing textbooks and ancillary materials, and to recoup their costs they spend large
sums on marketing to potential adopters. Publisher gross margins typically run 65% to 78%3,
which leaves considerable cash available for marketing and other endeavors.
Perhaps students do not embrace education technology like they do social or gaming technology.
We may find that the most effective method of teaching is in-person using pencils, paper, rulers,
protractors, compasses, and textbooks.

1 See other research postings at www.textbookequity.com

2 For example, searching for Math course ID 30095 (Winter 2011) ISBN 9781111026226 only links back to
Foothill’s bookstore. Though title and author are listed, students cannot be sure that is enough information to buy
the proper textbook elsewhere. Seems bookstores, perhaps by bundling other materials, are creating private ISBNs.
3 Chip Brian, Smartrend, 08/11/2010, http://www.mysmartrend.com/news-briefs/news-watch/top-5-companies-
publishing-industry-highest-gross-margin-meg-morn-jwa-mdp-mhp

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 Anatomy of a Textbook Part One – “The Top 100”

Contents
Introduction..........................................................................................................................2
Contents............................................................................................................................... 4
Observations........................................................................................................................ 5
The Top 100.........................................................................................................................6
Price Analysis...................................................................................................................... 7
Physical Characteristics.......................................................................................................9
The Publishers....................................................................................................................10
Preliminary Conclusions....................................................................................................15
Figure 1. No. of Textbooks by Academic Discipline..........................................................6
Figure 2: Price Ranges.........................................................................................................7
Figure 3. Price Range and Average by Discipline...............................................................7
Figure 4. Price per Page.......................................................................................................8
Figure 5. Price per Page Range............................................................................................8
Figure 6. No. of Pages..........................................................................................................9
Figure 7. Textbook Weight.................................................................................................9
Figure 8. Textbook Volume..............................................................................................10
Figure 9. Frequency of Editions........................................................................................10
Figure 10. No. of Textbooks by Listed Publisher..............................................................11
Figure 11. No. of Textbooks by Parent Publisher..............................................................13
Table 1. Textbook Data by Discipline ..............................................................................14

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 Anatomy of a Textbook Part One – “The Top 100”

Observations
Amazon.com published its top 100 textbooks sold during the spring of 20104, and from that data
(n=100) we note that: (See the graphs below this section and draw your own conclusions.)

• The #1 selling textbook is in Biology, #50 is a Calculus book, and #100 is in Psychology.
• When looking at the number of textbooks in the top 100 by discipline the rankings are:
o Business5 (#1)
o Psychology (#2)
o Biology (#3)
• Interestingly enough, those three subjects add up to 39% of the top 100. Include Math
and you have 47% of the textbooks in four subjects.
• Of the 14 Business textbooks in the top 100, half are in Marketing.
• The top 100 textbooks cost6 an average of $135, ranging from $65 to $256, σ ~$34. The
median is $133.
• The most expensive textbook is in Chemistry ($256), the least expensive Industrial
Organization ($35). However, base on average cost per discipline the most expensive
textbooks are:
o Law ($205)
o Engineering ($195)
o Chemistry ($182)
o Accounting ($177)
• The range of prices by subject varies considerably. The average range of all the
disciplines is $41. Nine disciplines have average ranges that are 50% higher than the
lowest priced book. These are ($min – $max price):
o Chemistry ($134 – $256)
o Math ($97 – $221)
o Finance ($115 – $180)
o Business ($35 – $193)
o Biology ($96 – $178)
o Statistics ($105 – $177)
o Psychology ($79 – $146)
o Speech/Communication ($53 – $154)
o Sociology ($59 – $101)
• The price per page ranges from $0.09 to $0.29, averaging $.18.
• Each textbook, on average, is 789 pages, weighs 4 pounds, and occupies 109 cubic
inches of space. (Cube root ~4.781 inches.)
• There are 13 listed publishers of the 100 textbooks. When combined into their parent
company, there are only five publishers, and the top three account for 85% of the top 100
textbook sales.

4 https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/G/01/rainier/help/top100_textbooks_spring2010.html
5 Excludes economics, accounting, and finance books.
6 Excludes taxes, shipping and handling.

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 Anatomy of a Textbook Part One – “The Top 100”

• Amazon.com’s rankings are ordinal. Since we do not have quantities sold we do not
know how close rankings are to each other. Such data, we suppose, is closely guarded.

The Top 100

100 Top Textbooks Sold
By Discipline

16 120%
14
14 13
100%
12 11
No. of Textbooks

Cumulative %
80%
10
8
8 60%
6 6
6 5
4 4 4 4 40%
4 3
2 2 2 2 2 20%
2 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1
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Figure 1. No. of Textbooks by Academic Discipline

Price Analysis
Top 100 Textbooks Sold
Price Ranges
29
30
No. of Textbooks in Top 100

25 23
19
20
15 11
9
10 6
5 1 1 1
0
$75 $100 $125 $150 $175 $200 $225 $250 More

Figure 2: Price Ranges

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 Anatomy of a Textbook Part One – “The Top 100”

Top 100 Textbooks Sold

Price Range and Average by Discipline

$300
Low Avg High Price

$250
$200
$150
$100
$50
$0

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Figure 3. Price Range and Average by Discipline

Top 100 Textbooks Sold

Price per Page
45
40
35
No. of Textbooks

30
25
20
15
10
5
0
$0.05 $0.10 $0.15 $0.20 $0.25 $0.30 More

Figure 4. Price per Page

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 Anatomy of a Textbook Part One – “The Top 100”

Top 100 Textbooks Sold

Price per Page

$0.35
$0.30
Price per Page

$0.25
$0.20
$0.15
$0.10
$0.05
$0.00
0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40 45 50 55 60 65 70 75 80 85 90 95 100

Textbook Rank

Figure 5. Price per Page Range

Physical Characteristics

Top 100 Textbooks Sold

No. of Pages Distribution
30 26
No. of Textbooks

25
20 16
15 13 12
9
10 6 6
5
5 2 3
0 1 0 0 1 0
0
e
0

0
0

0
0
0
0

00
00

00
00
00
00
10
20
30
40
50

60

80
90

or
70

10
11

12
13

15
14

No. of Pages

Figure 6. No. of Pages

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 Anatomy of a Textbook Part One – “The Top 100”

Top 100 Textbooks Sold

by Weight

35

30 28 29
No. of Textbooks

25
20
20

15

10 7
5 4 5
5
1 1
0
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9
Pounds

Figure 7. Textbook Weight

Top 100 Textbooks Sold

Volume Frequency

28
No. of Textbooks

30
24
25
20
15 13 12
10 8
5 4
5 2 1 2 1
0
0
40 60 80 100 120 140 160 180 200 220 240 More
Cubic Inches

Figure 8. Textbook Volume

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 Anatomy of a Textbook Part One – “The Top 100”

The Publishers
100 Top Textbooks Sold
Frequency of Editions
14
12
10
Frequency

8
6
4
2
0
2nd

4th
5th
6th

8th
9th
10th

12th
13th

15th
17th
7th

11th

14th

18th
3rd

23rd
1st

Edition

Figure 9. Frequency of Editions

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 Anatomy of a Textbook Part One – “The Top 100”

Top 100 Textbooks Sold

by Listed Publisher

McGraw-Hill 25
Prentice Hall 20
South-Western College Pub 15
Wadsworth Publishing 10
Benjamin Cummings 7
Brooks Cole 6
Worth Publishers 4
Wiley 4
Addison Wesley 3
Course Technology 2
Allyn & Bacon 2
Garland Science 1
Bedford/St Martins 1

0 5 10 15 20 25 30
No. of Textbooks

Figure 10. No. of Textbooks by Listed Publisher

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 Anatomy of a Textbook Part One – “The Top 100”

Top 100 Textbooks Sold

by Parent Publisher

Cengage 40
McGraw-Hill 25
Prentice Hall 20
Pearson 5
Macmillan 5
Wiley 4
Taylor & Francis 1

0 10 20 30 40 50
No. of Textbooks in Top 100

Figure 11. No. of Textbooks by Parent Publisher

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 Anatomy of a Textbook Part One – “The Top 100”

Spring 2010 Top Selling Textbooks On Amazon.com

Avg # Avg
Avg Avg Avg Avg of Vol
3 3
Discipline Price Range Var % Frq Price/Pg Price/in (in ) pages
Accntg $177 $19 11% 4 $0.16 $1.16 157 1,140
Ana/Phy $156 $15 10% 4 $0.14 $1.05 163 1,141
Anthr $133 $0 0% 1 $0.29 $2.52 53 456
Art $108 $29 31% 2 $0.15 $0.82 131 712
Biol $139 $84 88% 11 $0.14 $1.04 146 1,006
Bus $150 $162 525% 14 $0.20 $1.36 113 782
C_Apps $98 $17 19% 2 $0.09 $0.69 148 1,116
Chem $183 $121 90% 3 $0.17 $1.08 174 1,069
CrJus $107 $0 0% 1 $0.23 $1.68 64 471
CSci $148 $0 0% 1 $0.22 $1.50 99 672
Econ $152 $55 41% 6 $0.22 $1.72 93 699
Edu $114 $0 0% 1 $0.20 $1.39 82 576
Engr $195 $0 0% 1 $0.21 $1.38 141 944
Fin $146 $65 56% 6 $0.18 $1.37 107 800
GenSci $112 $5 5% 2 $0.15 $1.04 109 744
Hlth/Nurs $118 $0 0% 2 $0.15 $0.92 129 784
Law $205 $41 22% 2 $0.19 $1.79 115 1,136
Logic $119 $0 0% 1 $0.17 $1.37 87 720
Math $150 $123 127% 8 $0.17 $1.55 104 895
Music $65 $0 0% 1 $0.14 $1.39 47 480
Psy $119 $67 85% 13 $0.17 $1.12 112 717
Soc $85 $43 73% 4 $0.16 $1.06 84 577
Sp/Com $92 $100 186% 4 $0.15 $1.10 88 632
Span $137 $0 0% 1 $0.20 $1.52 90 688
Stat $133 $71 67% 5 $0.16 $1.32 108 827

Avg Avg Avg #

Avg Avg Price/in Vol of
n=100 Price Range Var % Frq Price/Pg 3 (in3) pages
Avg $134 41 30% 4 $0.18 $1.32 110 791
Max $205 14 $0.29 $2.52 174 1,141
Min $65 1 $0.09 $0.69 47 456
Std Dev $34 4 $0.04 $0.37 33 215
Range $140 9 $0.13 $1.20 66 313
Median $133 2 $0.17 $1.36 108 744

Table 1. Textbook Data by Discipline

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 Anatomy of a Textbook Part One – “The Top 100”

Preliminary Conclusions
1. Textbook publishing is a highly concentrated industry. (See Figure 11. No. of Textbooks
by Parent Publisher)
2. Textbooks have too many pages. There is probably no course that every used everything
in a textbook. (See Figure 6. No. of Pages)
3. Textbook prices are highly correlated to the number of pages, and there is no reason for
that that we can see. The price per page is within a pretty narrow range. That range is
low enough to make copying, especially color copying, unattractive. (See Figure 5.
Price per Page)
4. Prices within disciplines vary considerably, meaning that textbook adopters can find less
expensive textbooks for their classes if they look a bit more carefully. (See Figure 3.
Price Range and Average by Discipline)
5. Prices can become reasonable if publishers become more efficient. That will only
happen if they face more price competition.
6. Much more of the price (and recognition, promotion, tenure,) of textbooks needs to go to
the authors to maintain a healthy level of academic competition and advancement in each
field.
7. The open educational resource movement is gaining significant funding. Couple that
with proliferation of very inexpensive print-on-demand services and there is no longer a
need to depend upon traditional publishing houses to provide quality content classrooms.

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