The following textbook publishers employ business models that aim to keep costs low and give students a choice of options. Some texts by alternative publishers have won awards--see box at lower right for award winners.
Inexpensive texts in the $25 to $40 range. Growing collection of titles across disciplines. Many have been adopted by top tier universities and some have won textbook awards.
Create an online course in OLI or just have students use the chapters for course readings. Students don't need an account to use the readings. There are courses on many STEM topics, such as anatomy & physiology, biology, chemistry, statistics, computing . . . Also languages, such as French, Spanish, Chinese, and Arabic.
A "a nonprofit publishing endeavor at Chemeketa Community College in Salem, Oregon" produces print textbooks under $30 by using print on demand technology and financial support from the college. Currently they offer nine titles, with more in development.
Includes a Art for Everyone, World Regional Geography, college writing handbook, algebra texts, and more. The model is interesting and promising.
Reasonably priced texts in print or ebook format covering topics in engineering, material science, applied science, and health administration--with plans to also publish in health science areas. Also, offers library ebooks in multiple user versions.
Offers texts for business, economics, education, english, political science, and psychology. Students can choose affordable options, including digital books, PDF version, paperback, or iPhone version.
Offers a few hundred books on business and economics topics. Students can choose between very inexpensive e-text or reasonably priced print text. This publisher also sells library ebooks. Look carefully as there is wide variety in quality.
Originally, this company created texts mainly by licensing chapters and articles to create anthologies--they now also offer original works. They will also work with faculty to create custom anthologies. More expensive than some of the alternative text companies, but usually less than the big textbook companies. Since they license chapters from good publishers (such as university presses), quality is generally high.
Lumen Learning creates very different textbook alternatives by aggregating and organizing free resources (including readings and videos) into "open courses," with a table of contents much like text. "Open courses are effectively a complete textbook replacement. Each course includes a complete set of OER-based readings and sample assessments. All courses include some level of built-in video delivery and interaction." Students pay a reasonable course fee for the Lumen organized materials.
*Note: We are somewhat skeptical about this site, but it does offer a model that might be useful.
