The College Textbook Market

Sara Chen, Adrian Otiz, Jonathan Bui

History of Textbook

• 15th century - invention of printing

• Textbook printed on clay tablet, scroll

• Textbook Primary teaching aid in 19th century

• Historical significance in U.S.– McGuffey Readers, McGuffey Reader

Types of Textbook • Hard-cover textbook

• Loose-leaf textbook

• Advanced technology – electronic and PDF

– online and digital

• Custom textbook by university and college

Used textbook market• Student to student sales

• Campus buyback– UTD bookstore

• Online book buyers– E-bay, Craigslist, amazon trade-in

• Textbook rental – Chegg, Amazon, Textbook rental, etc...

This graph shows a comparison of the percentage increase since 1978