I am one of those professors that use my books in class. I can honestly say that there is very little economical incentive to write books - the royalty from the sales is so small that it is basically a round-off error away from 0. :-) The purpose of writing a book for use in your own class has always been that of the unavailability of material that the author/professor wishes to utilize. I have written two such textbooks, and find it quite stimulating to create my own "world" of knowledge in the particular subject I am teaching. In particular, I have a publishing house backing me, so that I can arrange for new editions, when I have something substantial to add or adjust, and the fact that I am allowed to adjust the book's contents every few years means that I can be rather sure that the content is correct, and that the occasional suggestions on additions of examples, graphs, what have you, will be quite easily arranged.

As the professor anthers his own text book it would be better to have a text books from other professors

Please see the publication by American Association of University Professors (AAUP) on the issue of assigning their books to students:

https://www.aaup.org/report/professors-assigning-their-own-texts-students.

Also, an article by Dr. Mitchell Mandelsman:

https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/the-ethical-professor/201504/is-it-ethical-professors-assign-their-own-books

Don

I am one of those professors that use my books in class. I can honestly say that there is very little economical incentive to write books - the royalty from the sales is so small that it is basically a round-off error away from 0. :-) The purpose of writing a book for use in your own class has always been that of the unavailability of material that the author/professor wishes to utilize. I have written two such textbooks, and find it quite stimulating to create my own "world" of knowledge in the particular subject I am teaching. In particular, I have a publishing house backing me, so that I can arrange for new editions, when I have something substantial to add or adjust, and the fact that I am allowed to adjust the book's contents every few years means that I can be rather sure that the content is correct, and that the occasional suggestions on additions of examples, graphs, what have you, will be quite easily arranged.

Dear Michael,

Yes, I agree that a professor never becomes a millionaire by selling his or her textbooks unless his or her book is the best selling book that professors in many other universities adopt it.

I do not think that it is unethical to make trivial gains for a professor's hard work. Also, like you stated, students get many benefits by taking classes from the professors who use their books.

I do not think that any professor intends to rip off their students by using his or her textbooks or materials which are not directly related to the course and with unreasonable prices.

Michael, thank you so much for your answer.

sincerely

Don

I also use my own book with students. Amazon prints it on demand. 450 pages.Price is 10 Euro 30 cents included delivery with Amazon prime. I get 0,03 Euro per copy that is sold. I have 25 students each year and around 20 choose to buy it. So theoretically I can totally earn from my students 0,6 Euro each year. Though since I personally buy the book for students that do not have amazon prime and since I round the price to ten Euro this year I am at loss of around 3 Euro. Good thing is that students can cooperate to make the book better since every year there are suggestions and corrections. Amazon allows me to change the digital version, from which the copies are made, every time I want. Even If I had 100 students the math would not make much difference. The problem though I believe can arise with professors that impose own book which is sold WAY above market price.

Dear Victtorio,

I do not mind that a professor goes through a department review process before using his or her textbook in a class. Like you said, theoretically it is possible for a professor to exploit his or her students by selling his or her textbook way above a market price.

I do not see any issue in your case. Thank you.

Don

I am a little surprised by this question... My experiece in the US has been that faculty are generally thrilled if you have written your own book that fits the curriculum.... that of course is with the understanding that you will also bring in other authors and perhaps methods than your own for students to compare and choose their own style.. but I see nothing wrong with using your own book - as someone else mentioined there is almost no financial gain in authoring these books - pennies.... but many have commented that they use my book because it does include theory, researcy & practice in one book & saves their students money,...

Dear Patricia,

I think that some universities see it as a potential issues with the conflict of interests between a professor and his or her students. Please find the links, if you have not read them yet.

Thanks.

Don

As a former professor who wrote and used textbooks in his classes and an executive of a publishing house, there is a little secret that all who consider this issue should be aware of.

There are two kinds of Professor Authored Textbooks: First is the one that we are all familiar with--where the professor and perhaps some colleagues actually write the textbooks. There is a second type that is most common with the introductory and survey courses in different fields. Here, the publisher HIRES a textbook writer, and pays a professor or two to advise and review and list their names as the authors. The real authors do this full time and are very skilled at the art of textbook communications but they have no name recognition in the field. With this second kind, the Professor usually gets a consulting fee up front and may get a very small royalty. He/she has no significant fiscal or ego incentive that might bias the decision.

For the first type, where there is a financial interest, I agree with those who observe that this is not the major motivation and few professors earn a lot of money. But some do--more than $1 million a year,

Here is what I did in the 1960s. Whenever I used one of my textbooks I either donated the royalties I would get on the books to the college book store and urged them to give a discount on those books. I got 15% and in all but one case, the bookstore gave an extra 15% discount to the students who bought my books.

There is one very good reason that helps academia when a professor requires a book of his for a course. We all depend on good textbooks, and the way textbook authors get the data and other feedback on the textbooks that they create, they can significantly improve the quality of the textbook. If we prohibited a professor from using his own textbooks as a general policy, the quality of the textbooks for all would be significantly diminished.

In a number of schools professors actually develop early pre-publication versions of textbooks and through the college bookstore or other means, reproduces just enough copies for the students in his classes. The students are charged just the reproduction cost which usually com out to be about the same price as a published textbook. (There are no economies of scale in the printing, but on the other hand there are no royalties, editorial fees, marketing costs, and publisher overhead and profit so the cost is about the same--much too high as all texts are.

Dear Lewis,

Thank you so much for providing the helpful information. I was not aware of the second type of textbook authors, and I am kind of uncomfortable with it as it gives me the impression of a free ride. Does a professor put his or her name as the author although he or she is not the actual writer?

Like you said, I think it is a good practice that a professor voluntarily donates his or her royalties to the university bookstore so that his or her students get some discounts.

Again, thank you for sharing your thoughts.

Sincerely

Don

I "utilize" a publishing house that publishes and sells books only in my country, and the number of buyers of the book that do NOT take my course based on it is probably is less than 20 per year. There is basically no money to be had by writing and adjusting course-based books. First, recognition is scarce at the department; second, the royalty is a round-off error from 0. I only write books because I find that there is a line of development in a course that I prefer, and because my students - so far - seems to agree that it works.

Dear Michael,

I strongly believe that your book helps your students a lot.

Don