Lauren Camera
Calling it a "generational business shift," textbook publishing giant Pearson announced that all future updates to its 1,500 US titles will occur digitally, a move company officials say will push the academic publishing industry into the 21st century and save students money by ending lengthy and expensive print revisions.
"The history of this business is as a college textbook publisher, and really over the last 20 years, like many of the other industries like newspapers and music publishing, we've seen a gradual shift from digital where over time digital time has become a more important part of the offering," John Fallon, CEO of Pearson, says. "We've really reached a tipping point."
London-based Pearson, the $8.5 billion company, is the largest provider of college textbooks in the US It now has more than 10 million digital registrations each year coming from the company's current offering of about 1,500 titles that cover all major course offerings at colleges and universities.
"This has been something that we've been in transition to over the last decade or more," Fallon says, adding that the way they've been releasing new editions is based on an approach designed more than 40 years ago.
"We're ending that," he says. "It doesn't make sense in a world where we have a primarily digital product."
Pearson estimates that nearly 90% of students are using some type of digital education tool already and that 62% of its revenue now comes from digital products.
In making the announcement, Pearson acknowledged the role that increasing cost of college textbooks has played in impeding access to higher education. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the cost of textbooks increased 88 percent from 2006 to 2016.
