When Jim Fiore wrote an electrical engineering textbook, the first edition sold for about $70 in 1991. The price of the second edition, though, eventually got up to around $220 for a softcover, said Fiore, professor of electrical engineering technology at Mohawk Valley Community College. Fiore didn’t appreciate the price escalation, he said. “They started to go through the roof and, as an author, you really don’t have any control over any of that,” Fiore said. So he found another way, getting his publishing rights back and putting out his third edition as an open educational resource, or OER. That means his students can now get it electronically for free.
https://www.uticaod.com/news/20200226/free-e-books-writing-new-chapter-in-local-college-costs
