Sucks for us…

I will take your statement at face value and assume for the sake of argument that your company is one of the more responsible university presses that does actually put much effort into keeping their product updated and careful attention to a high standard of quality. However, the majority of commercial textbook publishers do the bare minimum and force newly “updated/revised” editions on students solely for the sake of the bottom line. When the successful completion of a course is dependent on the mandatory purchase of the latest edition textbook despite said latest edition being virtually indistinguishable from the previous volume, then perhaps you can begin to understand why the people in the educational chain least able to afford it (the students) consider a $200+ price tag nothing short of a publisher rape of already stretched and inadequate resources. Multiply this scenario by many courses and the problem is crystal clear to all who have had to endure this shameless profiteering. Harassment of your customer base through petty legal threats does not put the money in their pocket to pay the inflated prices charged by many. If four people each put in $50 to buy one copy of a $200 textbook and then share it why is it so outrageous for some to use a digital copy if they can’t afford a physical one?

You may feel that your industry “prices to have their books bought and not to make a huge profit”, but I assure you that that is not the view of those who are your customers. Your industry exists in a rather unique niche of the publishing world in that rather than having to compete and provide quality AND value (read=reasonable price) like mainstream publishers, you cater to a captive audience whose academic success or failure is directly tied to the required purchase of your product. It is quite apparent to most people that textbook publishers long ago realized this and ever since have exploited that fact by pricing at a standard totally in opposition to mainstream publishing.

I’m sure you would like to point out that a university press does not sell titles in the numbers that mainstream books do, and you’re absolutely correct. But $150, $200, $300 for a single hardback textbook? Your numbers sold may be lower than mainstream books but your costs of publishing/printing are in no way proportional to your sales prices. If you say they are, I will be happy to direct you to several vanity presses who will be happy to print high quality hardbacks in small numbers for a tiny fraction of what you charge. Your industry could easily cut retail prices in half and still be very profitable. But instead price gouging and outright banditry seems to be the order of the day.

So, if you are one of the minority of text publishers who do act responsibly by putting out a quality product at a FAIR and REASONABLE price, then I wish you well. I am not anti-business nor anti-profit. I am, however, irrevocably and steadfastly opposed to those who would take advantage of their industry’s unique position to pillage those who are, in most cases, struggling financially as it is to complete their education. And for THAT segment of your industry, I have no pity.

1. You don’t register a domain or get a host using your real personal info. They can’t sue if they can’t find who you are.

2. Never, I repeat, NEVER use hosting or a server based within U.S. territory.

This site should have been hosted anonymously and located in an area where Geekman would have had the luxury of telling the publisher’s to go f**k themselves.

But what’s done is done. I’d like to express my thanks to Geekman for all the effort and hard work he put into running the site. Both the site, and Geekman himself, were always a class act from beginning to end.

R.I.P. Textbook Torrents. :(

And a word to the publishers…….My scanner will be getting quite the workout over the next month as I create new scans of your latest overpriced offerings. You bozos need to learn that you while you might kill a site, you don’t kill us. Strike one down and 100 will rise to replace it. :)