by Sapphire Magpie Ravenclaw

Created on: June 11, 2008

When a textbook is written, it is subsequently sold for a profit. Therefore, whatever happens to the book thereafter is the business of the new owner.

As a writer, I would personally prefer that people DID pass on any of my work as this is free publicity. An author or publisher who can create such a product that the original purchaser wants to pass it on should be glad that they have achieved this. It gives the oppportunity for new readers to see the work of the author or publisher and may encourage further purchases of other books from the same place.

There is the argument that once a book has been passed on, it might mean that is one lost sale but it may not have been a sale in the first place as some people do not like to purchase certain things brand new without first hand knowledge.

One "lost sale" may result in a better future for the author and/or publisher with higher sales on subsequent books because those "lost sales" from potential purchasers will turn into sales should the work be deemed appropriate and of good value.

There is also the fact that textbooks, depending on the information therein, may become out of date and, therefore, new editions will need to be published. Assuming the original versions were good, one sold copy passed to five different people could result in a further six sales of the updated version. However, if the original copy had not been passed on, there would potentially only be one sale instead of six.

Selling used books may be thought of by some as similar to "burning" CDs and DVDs because each copy means one less sale for the artist but, in comparison, books are relatively cheap, they are not being copied and, should someone make good use of one textbook, they are likely to seek out that particular "brand" again, that brand being either author or publisher. This is then likely to result on further sales as books can not be "downloaded" as with music and films where they can be sought on the internet by artist, downloaded and copied without giving it a second thought. Books still need to be purchased in the first instance and passing on a used copy of a textbook is, as mentioned in the beginning, the most perfect free publicity for a publisher because, surely, if a textbook was no good in the first place, it would have beenthrown away rather than sold on. Any market relies on publicity and passing on a good thing can only be good for a company.

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