Textbook writing is increasingly competitive, with a life of only three years before a new edition or a new book is needed. Initial print runs may be only 3000 copies. Research time to write quality books costs money. Educational bookselling is changing More publishers sell directly to schools rather than using a distributor. Parents pay full price.
Schools buy class sets but private school students buy their own.
Publishers claim they are absorbing the higher costs required by bigger books to cover options. Wary of competitors, publishers decline to give sales figures, but prefer to say our best selling authors are Most agree that a best seller is 50,000 to 100,000 copies in its life which might be 3-10 years. This figure could include 4 books in a series. Sales figures are influenced by whether the book sells nationally or whether it is state-specific and needs to be versioned for state curricula. A core text such as Heinemann s Atlas edited by Melbourne teacher Ray Pask would sell nationally 45,000 a year.