Amazon.com has launched a textbook rental service, allowing US students to borrow print editions for a school term at up to 70 per cent off the price of new titles, but the education industry is expecting the growth of rentals to slow.
Book Industry Study Group research found that textbook rentals rose last year from 8 per cent of the market to 11 per cent, with a corresponding drop in new textbook sales, from 59 to 55 per cent. There is also a sizeable second-hand market in textbooks…
“Users are beginning to expect more from textbook content [than] just words on a page,” Ms Ricci said, pointing to how publishers such as Pearson, owner of the Financial Times, are adding digital elements to traditional texts to broaden their business models… (more)
