'The Dog Ate My Homework' Just Doesn’t Fly Anymore

By Heather Fletcher

Kindling the E-textbook Market

The education industry may have recently received a digital push. In early May, Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos announced at a press conference the release of Amazon’s new, larger-format Kindle—the Kindle DX, with a display screen of 9.7 inches, twice the size of the previously released Kindle 2. But in the educational publishing market, it wasn’t just the larger-size device that stirred up conversation; it was Amazon’s announcement about its new partnerships with textbook publishers. Cengage Learning, Pearson and John Wiley & Sons (which together represent more than 60 percent of the U.S. higher-education textbook market, according to Bezos) will begin offering textbooks through the Kindle Store beginning this summer.

“Wiley is pleased to expand our outstanding partnership with Amazon to offer select Wiley textbooks for sale through the Kindle DX,” says Susan Spilka, Wiley’s director of corporate communications. “We … share a deep commitment to providing more people with more content than ever before, in whatever medium is best for them.”

Giving the new Kindle DX an added push into the educational market, Amazon also is partnering with five universities—Arizona State University, Case Western Reserve University, Princeton University, Reed College and Darden School of Business at the University of Virginia—to launch trial programs this fall to make Kindle DX devices available at no charge to participating students.

Amazon is said to be footing some of the bill for the trial programs, but not all. According to InformationWeek, “At Princeton University, the High Meadows Foundation, which supports projects that could lead to more environmentally friendly practices, is paying the $30,000 for the Kindle DX test. Amazon, meanwhile, is expected to contribute some of the funding for pilot programs at Arizona State University and the University of Virginia’s Darden School of Business.”

“[Kindle DX] opens a new world of educational opportunity,” said Barbara Snyder, president of Case Western Reserve University, at Amazon’s press conference. “This e-book technology may prove even more transformative than [personal computers].”

One of the biggest anticipated benefits for students in accessing textbooks via the Kindle is the anticipated lower cost for e-textbooks, considering the costs of paper, manufacturing and physical distribution no longer will be involved. And determining the best price for students, teachers and publishers likely will take some time as publishers test the waters to see what works.

There is also a question of user-friendliness, and some in the industry question the viability of students’ interest in reading highly formatted, color textbooks on a black-and-white screen, especially for a device that is not inexpensive—the Kindle DX is retailing for $489. But, if e-textbook prices are significantly lower than print textbooks, the cost of the device may be a small investment in larger savings for students.

Publishers will be exploring pricing models as well as determining which books are suitable for the Kindle DX format and whether some may not be.

According to Spilka, Wiley—which currently has more than 9,000 of its Professional/Trade titles available on the slightly older Kindle 2—is “in the process of determining which textbooks are best optimized for student use on the enhanced device and will announce more details on specific titles and pricing this summer as the books go live on the Kindle Store.”

—Noelle Skodzinski

Who hasn’t tried the excuse, “My dog ate my homework,” on a teacher? Success with that excuse now is nearly impossible, according to experts in educational book publishing. So much of what teachers currently do involves digital materials and tools that, short of a network failure or computer glitch, a student would be hard-pressed to come up with a similar excuse.

There is one main constant in education—that students are there to learn from the teacher. Other than that, everything else seems to be changing, from how the lesson is delivered to where it is delivered and how the student responds. And educational publishers have had to adapt along the way.

While this market segment is united by a set of challenges that other noneducational publishers do not face—such as government funding and complying with differing state standards—the big picture for educational book publishers also includes quite a few unique snapshots. Despite the fact that all of these publishers are trying to accomplish the same goal—to facilitate learning—they are often going about it in such different ways that many prefer to be identified by the market niche they serve: basal, supplemental and higher education, to name a few.

K-12: Targeted Content Making Gains
Rather than particular titles earning top sales spots, educational book publishers say that certain subjects are really top dog.

“Language arts provides the key to all other learning,” says William E. Evans of his best-selling subject.

Evans, co-founder and chief executive officer of Evan-Moor Educational Publishers of Monterey, Calif., adds that math, science, social studies, physical education and the arts round out the most popular subject areas, in descending order of sales. After all, he says, Evan-Moor’s best-selling supplemental education products for elementary grades correlate to the amount of time teachers spend on these subjects in the classroom. And, he says he’s seen little change during the past couple of years in terms of the materials teachers are buying from Evan-Moor to supplement the core—or basal—textbooks.