Open casebook
Dear Professor Nesson,
We are writing to ask for your help in changing the way casebooks are published. The average price of a casebook has risen quickly in recent years, and now stands at $115. Although the reasons for this price rise are not clear, it is obvious that the small number of competitors in the casebook market plays a role. But another important reason is that despite the interest of law teachers in producing web-based casebooks, the major publishers have not realized efficiency gains from publishing casebooks online.
We want to change that. We propose to create the first online casebook publisher. We will be able to cut the average price paid by a student for a casebook by 50%-80% and raise royalties to authors by 40%-50% per book. Hereâs how the business will work:
⢠When we publish a casebook, it goes online in PDF and Word format, available for anyone to download at any time
⢠However, we will require law schools assigning the casebook in class to pay a fee equal to our textbook price times the number of students enrolled in the class.
⢠Students enrolled in a paid-for class have the option to order an unbound hard copy of the casebook which we will sell at cost.
This business model has several advantages. First, it takes advantage of the fact that a growing number of students donât need hard copies of casebooks. The emergence of tablet PCs means that students can use a stylus to underline and highlight texts on-screen. And many other students have simply gotten used to reading texts directly off their computer screens. By selling them paperless casebooks, we reduce their costs by as much as 80%. But we recognize that many students do prefer to read off paper. Students opting for a paper version save 50% off current prices including the cost of the hard copy.
Online publishing improves the quality of casebooks. Those publishing with us can amend their casebooks at any time. And our website will contain a function, based on the âwikiâ technology used by wikipedia, that allows the internet community to propose edits to the text. Any student who spots a typo can go to the site and fix it at any time.
Our system will also permit teachers to teach simultaneously from any and all of the casebooks we publish. A single per student charge will buy use rights to our entire catalog. As we grow, this will allow Professors to mix and match materials from different authors without forcing students to pay for more than one casebook.
Finally, our system will of course permit a reader complete control over formatting. If a reader prefers a casebook with wide margins and a serif-ed font, she can set those elements on-screen or in her hard copy.
We are hoping to shake up the sleepy casebook publishing industry through this venture, but we need your help. Publishers have tied up casebooks currently in print through contracts preventing authors from publishing new editions with a new publisher. We are trying, therefore, to identify scholars interested in or in the process of writing a new casebook.
We would be very grateful if you would let us know of any scholars who might be interested in joining this project, or indeed, if you yourself are interested in publishing with us. In the meantime, do have a look at our prototype website and peruse our first publication: a reissuing of Langdellâs Casebook on Contracts â the first casebook.
Yours Sincerely,
James Maschoff
Jeremy Peterson
Ramsi Woodcock
