<P> The latest trend in textbooks is "open textbooks ." An open textbook is a free, openly licensed textbook offered online by its author (s). According to PIRG, a number of textbooks already exist, and are being used at schools such as MIT and Harvard . A 2010 study published found that open textbooks offer a viable and attractive means to meet faculty and student needs while offering savings of approximately 80% compared to traditional textbook options . </P> <P> Although the largest question seems to be who is going to pay to write them, several state policies suggest that public investment in open textbooks might make sense . To offer another perspective, any jurisdiction might find itself challenged to find sufficient numbers of credible academics who would be willing to undertake the effort of creating an open textbook without realistic compensation, in order to make such a proposal work . </P> <P> The other challenge involves the reality of publishing, which is that textbooks with good sales and profitability subsidize the creation and publication of low demand but believed to be necessary textbooks . Subsidies skew markets and the elimination of subsidies is disruptive; in the case of low demand textbooks the possibilities following subsidy removal include any or all of the following: higher retail prices, a switch to open textbooks, a reduction of the number of titles published . </P> <P> On the other hand, independent open textbook authoring and publishing models are developing . Most notably, the startup publisher Flat World Knowledge already has dozens of college - level open textbooks that are used by more than 900 institutions in 44 countries . Their business model was to offer the open textbook free online, and then sell ancillary products that students are likely to buy if prices are reasonable - print copies, study guides, ePub, . Mobi (Kindle), PDF download, etc . Flat World Knowledge compensates its authors with royalties on these sales . With the generated revenue Flat World Knowledge funded high - quality publishing activities with a goal of making the Flat World financial model sustainable . However, in January, 2013 Flat World Knowledge announced their financial model could no longer sustain their free - to - read options for students . Flat World Knowledge intends to have open textbooks available for the 125 highest - enrolled courses on college campuses within the next few years . </P>

Which state government has launched a textbook portal for school student