News for hackers. Stuff that matters.

A comment on Stanford Compilers Course. Parent comment

Re:Stanford Compilers Course by nerpderp83 on Monday November 20, 2017 @05:59PM (#15744140)
The authors are already generously compensated. I am super curious how much they actually make, or is this the same as the paper paywall? Inflation adjusted this book is way more expensive than it used to be in its first version.

The hardcover version of the first edition is $2.50 in Alibris. New this book shouldn't cost more than $90.

[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:Stanford Compilers Course by rayiner on Monday November 20, 2017 @06:39PM (#15744384)
Priceonomics breaks it down: https://priceonomics.com/why-are-textbooks-so-expensive.

tl;dr version: you're ignoring all the other stuff that goes into selling a textbook and grossly overestimating how much margin publishers have. Professors don't submit PDFs ready to hit "print." The books must be edited, typeset, etc. This can't be done by minimum wage workers because the editors have to actually understand what they're editing. The hypothetical $230 book nets about $40 in profit.

[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:Stanford Compilers Course by ukyrgf on Tuesday November 21, 2017 @01:11AM (#15746015)
It seems a lot of computer science books I read that have been published lately talk about their build process (web, PDF, EPUB/MOBI) in the same way they would talk about compiling code. How much typesetting is really done these days?
[ Parent | on HN ]