Learning about the Capitol.

An article in the Chronicle of Higher Education warns that format wars are heating up among text book publishers: “Major textbook publishers are firing the first shots in a format war over their electronic editions, with several players hoping to control distribution to students and to make used textbooks extinct in a future they see as increasingly digital.”

The Chronicle goes on to report that Macmillian is announcing its entrant into the combat is “an unusual publishing platform for electronic textbooks that it hopes to lure other publishers to use as well (in exchange for a cut of their sales). And to entice faculty members to assign the books, the company will even pay some of them (if the professors enhance the volumes). The system, called DynamicBooks, lets any professor make a customized version of one of the company’s existing titles. That means that chemistry professors can take one of the company’s chemistry textbooks, rewrite some parts, add their own papers or chapters, or embed videos or homework questions they’ve created. Any passage added or changed is clearly labeled as not part of the original book, so students know what is original and what is customized—a concession that was made to textbook authors.”

Professors who enhance the texts can make money if students buy their contributed material. And their enhancements can also be sold to other professors for use in their classrooms as well.

“The effort joins a quickly growing list of souped-up textbook systems aimed at upending the traditional business model in the textbook industry. Last year, McGraw-Hill unveiled its own format for enhanced e-textbooks called Connect. John Wiley & Sons recently started a similar line of books called WileyPlus,” the Chronicle continued.

Publishers contend that they are creating better educational tools—that the new hybrid textbook, which can contain tests, videos and social media features, will enhance the learning experience. A lot of bells and whistles, in other words, in the hopes that students and teachers alike will find e-texts more enticing.

But one by-product of these new e-textbooks would be the eradication of the used textbook market, a market that textbook publishers regard as anathema. Most of the e-texts self-destruct after a semester or school-year to prevent re-use. Even the original owner will no longer have access to the book they bought. So much for keeping that beloved text from college on your shelf….

Also troublesome is that the various textbook companies are all using different platforms for their ebooks, each with its own quirks and learning curve. The Chronicle reports that, “Professors are telling the companies they want a standard, so they have to learn just one tool that will work for all the courses they teach. That’s why Macmillan says it plans to invite its competitors to place their books in the DynamicBooks system for professors who want to use only that interface.”

No publishers have signed on yet to Macmillian’s program, but it’s early days, and Macmillan’s distribution fee of 18% might put some publishers off the whole idea.

And then there’s the whole little question of kickbacks to the professors for assigning these books that they have enhanced. To avoid the appearance of impropriety, Clancy Marshall, general manager of DynamicBooks, told the Chronicle, “only professors who make significant changes in a book will qualify for payment. The company has devised a list of 10 types of changes that qualify, and professors must do at least six of them for their changes to be considered significant. ‘We don’t want to just be bribing instructors to use this,’ she said.”

Sounds  a little dubious incentivizing teachers to exploit their ability to assign textbooks to a captive audience. Will the real losers in the textbook format wars be students?