Kent State University Bookstore says e-book sales are up
September 1, 2011
E-book sales have increased from $1,000 in revenue to $5,000 at the University Bookstore since last fall.
Charlie Haskins, a textbook supervisor at the store, said about 10 percent of the textbooks at the University Bookstore are offered as e-books.
“The e-book company, CafeScribe, is part of Follett and they are working with publishers to get more textbooks as e-books,” he said.
Haskins said he wants to continue pushing the sales.
“This is really a digital world and the e-books fit in by being Internet-based and working on laptops, PCs and things like the iPad.”
Haskins said some e-books are cheaper than new, used and rental textbooks but some are not.
“It really depends on the book, the professor and the book’s publishing company, but it can be an option to save money,” he said.
Curtis Lamb, the textbook manager, said the store’s e-books do not work on devices like the Kindle because Internet is required.
“I do think eventually students will be able to access e-books from any device,” he said. “Right now, students can access their books from computers, tablets and smart phones. Students can also download the book onto a computer so they can work offline. It really is a growing and evolving idea and becoming more popular every year.”
Price Comparisons
Social Psychology and Human Nature
- New- $189.25
- Used-$142.00
- Rental- $94.53
- e-book-$87.98
Discrete Mathematics
with Applications
- New- $252.50
- Used-$189/50
- Rental-$126.12
- e-book-$124.99
Media Ethics: Issues
and Cases
- New- $85.50
- Used-$64.25
- Rental- $42.71
- e-book- $61.00
Comparative Politics
- New – $102.50
- Used- $77.50
- Rental – none
- e-book – $50.99
Essentials of Health Behavior
- New-$91.95
- Used-$69.00
- Rental- $45.93
- e-book- $78.95
Student reactions
- “Not only did it lessen the number of books I had to carry, but through a useful ‘search’ function I was able to easily find information that would have taken longer to find in a traditional textbook. The e-book made studying for exams much less stressful. The only downside was not being able to resell the book once purchased, but considering how in-depth the information was, I’ve used it to help with other classes.”
—Robert Batyko, sophomore public relations major
- “The only perk of buying the e-book was that I didn’t have to carry a book to class. I saved about $10 and that’s it. I also couldn’t find it at any of the bookstores near campus so I bought it through the publisher. I also couldn’t use the book without internet so if I couldn’t connect, I was out of luck.”
— Erik Salley, sophomore political science major
- “I could not sell the book back at the end of the semester but I still saved so much more money than if had I bought the traditional books and then tried to sell them back. No one wants to spend $500 on books, so shop around and compare costs.”
—Christopher Young, senior Political science major
Contact Maura Zurick at [email protected].
