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=Input for story on Nature Science textbook series=

What is the news?
Nature Publishing Group, in partnership with the California State University System, announced the launch of a series of interactive textbooks in college-level science.

**When did it happen?**

The first textbook in the series, Principles of Biology, intended for the majors introductory biology course, will be available to the market on September 1, 2011. It will be used at three CSU campuses in the fall.

Why is this important?
A key difference is that traditional textbook publishers are creating digital textbooks by going through their current lists and offering machine readable versions of books and chapters they are already publishing. Nature's digital books will be created from scratch by a group of scientists, instructors, artists, and interaction designers working together under the guidance of Nature's editorial team. The fist book will not be out until September, but it has undergone extensive peer review by CSU faculty and is said to contain 175 interactive lessons. That in itself sounds more modular and different than a re-purposed textbook.

At $49, the biology book is cheap by the standards of the mainstream textbook industry. Hardcover books often sell for over $100, but they can often be sold on the used market. Etext versions of mainstream textbooks typically cost more than $49, but the student has access to them for a limited time -- perhaps one year. Nature is proposing a radical departure -- the text will be updated continuously and the $49 is for lifetime access. It is a textbook plus an open ended subscription.

The textbook industry is ripe for change. There are a few dominant companies, and they have large sales forces and high printing and distribution costs. Campus bookstores also mark the books up. These books may be game changers. Nature is a prestigious publisher, the CSU is a very large textbook customer and the access model and price are very attractive. Stay tuned for more when we get some hands-on experience with the biology book and interactive lessons.

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