<p>what if you bought them from amazon instead of from campus.</p>
<p>If you bought from Amazon, then you saved yourself a decent amount of money, good for you!</p>
<p>I’ve not heard of profs getting deals for books, typically that would be the school making a profit, although I did have a prof who’s assigned books were either authored by or edited by him (there were two books, one required and one recommended). I’ve also known profs to assign books written or edited by their colleagues at other institutions. They don’t always pick the best or cheapest book, but unless they wrote the book, I don’t think they receive monetary compensation.</p>
<p>Of course profs get royalties every time one of their books is sold. I had one prof who actually gave each of us a cash refund of his royalty amount because he felt is was wrong to profit from requiring the book.</p>
<p>If they wrote the book or edited it, yes, but they don’t get anything for students buying books they require that they didn’t write or edit, unless they have engaged in some kind of deal with the publishers.</p>
<p>Haha. Years of work for roughly $1000- for a book used throughout the specialty. No stable payment for writing or editing- maybe a small honorarium, except in some cases so rare. Most academic presses-- well, we can’t figure out how they survive in the first place, unless a major U has a major commitment to underwite expenses. Most presses that I am aware of convert the concept of a royalty to a small payoff after a few years. Umberto Eco is an entirely different model. Or, anyone who will have a special draw, outside classrooms. And, as I understand it, there is no longer even an IRS deduction for the working/writing period.</p>
<p>I was a co-author for a chapter in a book with my prof. The authors (different authors for each chapter, kind of like how handbooks are composed) received credits. I got a $200 credit (not sure if the dollar amount varied based on first author/last author), which I could use toward purchasing other books by the publisher. Only the editors of the book received actual payment and possibly royalties, I didn’t ask too many questions about their part. Granted, co-authoring a single chapter with a few other people isn’t much work when compared to writing a full book, so I thought the offer was pretty good, at least as a student.</p>
<p>“Of course profs get royalties every time one of their books is sold. I had one prof who actually gave each of us a cash refund of his royalty amount because he felt is was wrong to profit from requiring the book.”</p>
<p>Which university was that? By “one of their books” do you mean" one of the books that they require in the class" or “one of the books that they authored or edited”?</p>
<p>This was at Yale, 30 years ago. It was an econ class, and the professor assigned his own book, and gave each of us a rebate. I think it was maybe a dollar.</p>
<p>“If they wrote the book or edited it, yes, but they don’t get anything for students buying books they require that they didn’t write or edit, unless they have engaged in some kind of deal with the publishers.”</p>
<p>Do profs usually have some kind of deal with the publishers?</p>
<p>Anything is possible, but I very much doubt if profs get kickbacks for assigning books, aside from royalties for selling their own books. There wouldn’t be enough money in it to be worth it.</p>
<p>Yes, they do. It’s kind of weird though…imo it’s kind of nice if your professor wrote the book for the class because you can be sure everything in the book will be relevant to the class. But your professor does usually make some money from it. </p>
<p>I had two profs who wrote the books for my classes as far as I’m aware. One made his exclusively available at this co-op bookstore so that he wouldn’t be profiting from us (he was a big communist). The other just really encouraged us to buy our books used or somewhere that would be as cheap as possible.</p>
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No. 10char.</p>
<p>In my experience it is quite common for profs to require books by their colleagues at other institutions. I would think, especially for freshman topic courses, that there are SO many books out there that it would be impossible to review a large number of them and choose the best - so they base it off of who they know and trust.</p>
<p>Authors get royalties from new book sales; it theoretically does not matter whether you buy the same book at the campus bookstore or mail order it.</p>
<p>Of course, “same book” in terms of book sales may not mean what you think it means. There may be a paperback international edition that costs less. Or some sellers may have new [remaindered</a> books](<a href=“http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Remaindered_book]remaindered”>Remaindered book - Wikipedia).</p>
<p>For any retailers that buy in bulk, if a royalty is calculated, it is later adjusted if the store (any sort) returns unsold copies. There can also be a clause about royalties from sales to discounters. Or on paperback editions. </p>
<p>ucb, you may know, there are also schools where profs request uniquely abridged editions of textbooks- eg, chapters 1,2,7,10,11,12. Really screws up the search by isbn.</p>
<p>Next trend: all class books as digital downloads. I can’t imagine much money profit to those authors, unless there are mass licensing deals to the colleges. Even so, probably little financial gain to the authors.</p>
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</p>
<p>Actually, some CS books are already that way:</p>
<p>[Structure</a> and Interpretation of Computer Programs](<a href=“http://mitpress.mit.edu/sicp/full-text/book/book.html]Structure”>http://mitpress.mit.edu/sicp/full-text/book/book.html)</p>