Textbook Publisher to Rent to College Students
“I think it could very well end up being a standard offering,” said Patrick Maloney, the executive vice president [at Barnes & Noble College Booksellers]. “We’re renting books at 35 percent of the list price, and it’s only for hardcover texts, because paperbacks would get beaten up too fast. The schools assist us with collecting the books at the end, as they do with library books. The other option, taking the student’s credit card and billing it if the book wasn’t returned, didn’t seem very user-friendly.”
You know what would be user friendlier? Selling the books at 35% of the list price in paperback and saving everyone the trouble of dealing with used books.
They’ll do anything to keep selling hardcover books, but the writing is on the wall. That’s why RRR is working with companies like Flat World Knowledge, who is embracing technology rather than beating the ocean with a stick.
Source: The New York Times
