Textbook publishers are in crisis: their products are too expensive. University students, facing rising tuition fees and mounting debt, have been turning to pirated or used books, or are skipping buying course materials altogether.
The industry has scrambled to adapt by producing cheaper ebooks and offering rentals for individual texts. One publisher is even betting that a Netflix-style subscription model can increase revenues, while meeting demand for lower prices.
Cengage Learning, one of the world’s biggest educational publishers, will launch a subscription service for US students next year that includes unlimited access to digital materials for $119.99 a semester.