Open Ed’s Business Woes: Textbook Pioneer Flat World Knowledge To Revoke Free Access To Texts | TechCrunch

"Founded in 2007, Flat World Knowledge was one of the early pioneers in the move to bring free and open access to textbooks to students and educators. The independent publisher offered its learning content for free ... Flat World allows teachers to modify and edit those texts to fit their particular class through its own simple editing tools, printing new copies on-demand.  With customizable, free texts on-demand, Flat World’s model won over many students, leading the company to claim that it had become one of the largest online publishers of free and open textbooks...  This week, Campus Marketplace reported that Flat World Knowledge has been forced to drop its free access to textbooks. The decision was made largely because of the cost of supporting free access. In other words it was a business decision that many have or will face as part of the shift to open learning.  Flat World offers its learning content for free, but charges for more convenient ways to access material for print or beefed-up versions and for study aids. By eliminating its free option, the company hopes to make its pricing more equitable for all of its institutional partners so that everyone is paying the same price.  The company will still offer bookstore partners to its so-called 'All Access Pass' that includes a digital version of its textbooks, such as eBook files, PDFs, audio, HTML functionality and study aids for $28 and will sell the pass on its homepage for $35. Textbooks themselves will start at $19.95.  It’s not a huge change for students or partners, and nearly all of the company’s partners are on board with the move (as, obviously, are the teachers and experts producing the textbooks),according to The Chronicle of Higher Ed. Even if students end up paying $20 to $25 for their textbooks, it’s still a very attractive alternative to the cost of traditional textbooks.  Obviously, the company does not want to say that its free content is cannibalizing the revenue generated from charging students and institutions for premium features and content, but it’s clear that the company didn’t quite get the balance right.  The big textbook publishers, who have warned about jumping into the deep end and offering learning content for free — because they’re obviously worried about the de-valuation of educational content and the slimmer margins of the digital publishing world — are probably enjoying this announcement somewhat... "