Textbooks Costs Are on the Rise, While Some Students Save 90%

Salem, OR (PRWEB) August 26, 2005

In an effort to fulfill its mission and help students find books faster and cheaper, Direct Textbooks is releasing these back to school tips for purchasing textbooks online:

1. Students should know who they are buying from. Purchasing textbooks online can be very confusing. Check if you are buying directly from the company or from an individual selling through a marketplace. Always print receipts and checkout statements and if possible the companies contact information at the time of checkout. Determining where and who you bought from after the fact can be a difficult process.

2.Students should check the vendors return policy: Once you know who you are buying from check the companies or individuals return policy. Companies have different return policies some are very restrictive. Direct Textbook http:/http://www.directtextbook.com provides links to the return policies of the textbook stores we list.

3. Students save the most money purchasing used textbooks online: Buying used books online can save students 20% to 90%. Buying new textbooks online typically saves a student 10% to 20%.

4. Students should purchase with a Visa or MasterCard not tied to a personal checking or savings account. Recovering money taken from a personal checking or savings account through fraud can take weeks. Funds taken through fraud may be frozen until the issue is resolved. Using a VISA or MasterCard that is not tied to a personal account eliminates this potential liability.

5. Students should expect 7-10 business days for arrival.If you buy a book using USPS(United States Postal Service allow 7-10 business days. Most shipments will arrive sooner. Consider using expedited shipping through FedEx or UPS to ensure on time delivery. Shipping or delivery time is not the same as the arrival time. Most online bookstores have a 2 to 3 day delay before your order is shipped and most do not ship on Saturday or Sunday.

Direct Textbooks, Inc provides college students a price comparison and book search service that consolidates textbook pricing availability and customer service information from 30 different online textbook companies.

About Direct Textbooks, Inc

Combining over 30 sources of online textbook pricing and availability, Direct Textbooks, Inc provides students a consolidated textbook buying information source.

For more information on Direct Textbooks, Inc and general textbook industry information please visit http://www.directtextbook.com/press

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More Sell Textbooks For Most Money Press Releases

dotReader to Slash Cost of College Textbooks

Tacoma, WA (PRWEB) June 10, 2006

dotReader will help Freeload Press slash the costs of textbookstypically by 60 percent. And publishers couldn't be happier.

The secret is to embed ads inside textbooks via dotReader, Tom Doran, Founder/CEO of Freeload Press says, and dotReader is the perfect solution for publishers using our Textbook Media Services. FedEx|Kinkos, Starbucks, or even local pizza shops could target ads to specific geographic markets. With ad money factored in, a $ 100 science book might sell instead for $ 39.

My own daughter's been blogging up a storm about the textbook costs, says Mark Carey, CEO of OSoft, the software company behind dotReader, a powerful and easy-to-use e-book program. She's thrilled that I'm part of the solution to the problem.

This is a win-win for everyonepublishers and students like my daughter ?Quinn. Students' total savings could over time could reach the billions.

According to the National Association of College Stores (NACS), college course materials were a $ 6.5 billion dollar market in 2004/2005.

The cost of books and supplies for the academic year 2004-05 rose from $ 745-$ 843 to $ 773-$ 870 and does not vary much from two-year to four-year institutions, or from public to private schools, according to figures reported by The College Board.

New commercial option

The new technology could be a bonanza for cash-strapped students, who no longer will have to borrow quality textbooks and supporting materials from friends or the library. Worse, because of today's climbing textbook costs, professors may avoid assigning certain material in the first place.

Now, however, Freeload Press, a Saint Paul, MN company, will use the ad-serving capabilities of dotReader to publish a propritary line of free textbooks, as well as distribute other publishers e-texts. Prices will typically run 60% less than competing paper textbooks.

These textbooks, says Tom Doran, Founder/CEO of Freeload Press, will come from the best authors in their respective fields. Quality will not suffer.

We have received tremendous interest from top publishers of college texts, he says. Consider that publishers sell a book once and the college bookstores sell the same book 3-4 times with no revenue back to the publisher. Students can buy select books electronically for less than the used book price and the publishers earn revenue on every sale. We believe the sweet spot is about $ 39.00 for science, math, and technology books vs. a typical cost of over $ 100.

The slash in textbook prices is made possible by embedding dynamic advertising within the e-book. Students agree to this format in exchange for the lower price.

During beta testing, Freeload Press used PDF format to deliver content. The shortcoming of a PDF platform is on the advertising side, Doran said. We wanted to provide our adversers with both rich media opportunities and the ability to easily update or change their advertising message. To scale up, Freeload Press chose OSoft's dotReader.

dotReader Solution

The dotReader is an open source e-book reader with an open architecture that allows publishers/distributors to create plug-in features in this case, an advertising module.

We are delighted to see the dotReader put to this use, said Mark Carey, CEO of OSoft, based in Tacoma, Washington.. The dotReader permits unobtrusive dynamic advertising that can be hidden during reading and studying work.

Books in accounting might offer advertisements from major accounting firms, notes Doran. Companies could target to student geographically. Ads are automatically updated as new sponsors come and go. Best of all, the content can be read online or offline on Windows, Mac OS X, Linux, tablets, and most PDAs.

And students will be able to customize the appearance of the reader. For example, the screen displaying the book can include a control to change the size of the type on the screen. Or they can use other 'buttons' instead.

The reader is colorful in looks, and the iPod generation should love the aesthetics.

And the ads aren't intrusive. Students will see them when going to a new chapter, but they can then switch 'em off to focus on their lessons.

Building Communities

Freeload Press chose the dotReader also because of its ability to develop learning communities around content. The dotReader allows for embedded forums, polls, and group discussions inside each book.

Instructors can send students all of their annotations (including a syllabus) which will be rendered directly in the book at the point of discussion. Private, group, and public annotation enhances the learning environment.

DotReader is of major significance for educators since it will be easier than ever for students to engage in collaborative learning, Carey says.

Everybody Wins

Doran believes that the primary focus is to reduce the textbook pain students experience in the college bookstores and give publishers more control over their revenue stream. We are both challenging and inviting publishers to rethink their business model. In the low-margin publishing business, electronic books supported by advertising makes sense and the dotReader is the perfect platform to accomplish this.

Industry analyst John Blossom from Shore Communications loves dotReader, formerally known as ThoutReader. In an article written in January, Blossom states, Then why in the wake of all of this [Consumer Electronics Show] am I more excited about a piece of open source software from a garage startup in Tacoma, Washington than all of the wizardry rearing its head in Las Vegas? Because it has the outlines of how publishers can actually control their fate in the midst of a rapidly changing marketplace for premium content.

For more information, contact:

Tom Doran

Freeload Press

(651)695-0870

Mark Carey

OSoft.com

(253) 848-4758

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More Sell Textbooks For Most Money Press Releases

There's Gold in Them There Textbooks

Austin, TX (PRWEB) August 9, 2006

Textbooks are expensive. Although students may consider some of their books valuable and keep them for future reference, most texts end up back in the system. Typically the campus store will purchase books back at 50 percent of sticker price and then resell at 75 percent sticker or list price. Of course, this is assuming that the book is going to be used on campus in the upcoming semester. If the book is not a sure bet or if an overload of copies comes in, then students are stuck with a few dollars back or maybe nothing at all.

If students are going the bookstore route, then they are missing out on online options like UniversityTextbooks.com. Internet book buying/selling generally means lower overall prices for buyers and higher return rates for sellers. It's a great option for graduates and students especially returning students who can often wait out the market.

UniversityTextbooks.com has created a website for student textbook exchanging. The launch, announced today, represents the best targeted URL for a university textbook site. The site is a completely FREE SERVICE provided to students of any university. Unlike some other book exchange websites, University Textbooks is not cluttered with advertising and annoying popup banners. All information captured (i.e. email addresses) are kept secure and never sold. The site allows university students to buy and sell used textbooks directly with other students.

In conjunction with Amazon.com, University Textbooks enables students to use powerful search tools to find the textbooks they need for their classes. Some of the ways to search, post, and sort books are by price, title, author, condition, ISBN, seller, and contact information. Students can easily search textbooks and then contact the seller. The seller has the option of including multiple methods of contact. (i.e. Phone #, Instant Messaging, Email) In addition, the site provides helpful articles and news on issues important to university student life.

"UniversityTextbooks.com seeks to be a comprehensive source for helping university students find the textbooks they need by enabling them to sell and post fast," stated Christian Lavender, President of UniversityTextbooks.com and IntelligentUpdate.com. "We created the website in order to provide university students with a prime resource for selling and posting used textbooks, bypassing the bookstores and their high fees. Let's take a $ 100 book for example. Usually a used book store will pay you about $ 35 for that book and then resell it for around $ 70. What if you could skip the used book store and directly sell your book to that same person for $ 50? You'd get more and he'd pay less!"

University Textbooks is the first of its kind on a national level, seeking to revolutionize the textbook marketplace. For more information, visit the website at http://www.UniversityTextbooks.com.

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