Show r Local College r. r Classes Thriving on a New aNew Breed of They cant can't outrace a speeding bullet yet nor has anyone seen them leap tall buildings in a single bound Butk But k when you compare today's today textbooks to their predecessors of a decade ago you might feel like youre you're matching a Space Shuttle against a Model Model T. T J They're And they J just justa st a may challenge computers as the single sin sin- single b gle most influential advance now happening happening hap hap- 1 pening in college today So asserts Bruce Frymire the they y Director of Marketing Services at Harper Rows Row's College Division Hes He's watched the rise of this new f r breed of textbook for over a decade now as publishers have poured millions millions millions mil mil- lions of dollars into their research and development The reason for their rise according to Frymire is simple competition No publisher can take the chance of producing a textbook in accounting accounting accounting account account- ing these days unless that company can cap prove theres there's a solid reason a marketing edge that will make their textbook better than the fourteen fourteen fourteen four four- teen competitors already out there Were We're seeing enormous strides being m made de in readability i in interest level in innovation with this new generation generation generation genera- genera tion of textbooks As in any field competition is creating better pro- pro r d ducts ts 4 As an example Frymire brought out the latest Harper Row publication publication publication tion a looking hefty-looking tome called Accounting Principles which typifies the new breed of Three years in the making it involved a small army of accounting professionals profession profession- als men and women to be exact t and a staggering up-front up cost of all of which was spent before a single copy could be sold l r Barto began the long and difficult t search for authors whose ideas about an accounting text meshed well with the research Harper Row was com corn t- t piling We were looking for eloquent people good teachers people with outstanding cred credentials Also people who would be willing to make good use of the research wed we'd made such an L- L effort to gather In my experience f finding a good author usually involves L good luck and a lot of f I Id I'd say we were very lucky in finding I t. t Professors ors Solomon Vargo and ro I The simple fact is that the day of the lone unsupported textbook author f is past says Frymire Publishers Y simply cant can't afford to produce anything anything any any- 5 thing less than the best in such a competitive market Some textbook makers will still try to cut corners but I thing teachers are realizing that t those kinds of textbooks force kids to a pay a different kind of price in uninspired classes in frustrating f study time Frankly with the kind of money students are spending to be in college in the first place textbooks have got to be the the best best that they can i possibly be That's why texts like Accounting Principles are here to stay they may cost a little more but they also help students accomplish more 0 And that's the real bottom line |