Maker of 'open,' free textbooks raises $8 million
Flat World Knowledge publishes college textbooks that are free online and open for editing.
Its business model is to offer the option for students and professors to print soft-cover textbooks in whole or part, at a fraction of the cost of a standard hardbound college text.
The company announced this week that it has raised $8 million from Greenhill SAVP, High Peaks Venture Partners, and Valhalla Partners.
Flat World, founded in 2007 by two textbook industry executives, is starting small. According to its online catalog, it focuses on seven practical, business-related areas, including economics, marketing, and accounting. As of now, it offers seven textbooks but has plans to publish 15 another books by May 2010.
The site states that the books are "written by the world's leading subject matter experts" and are "peer reviewed." Flat World's open model allows instructors to shift around or eliminate chapters, and plans to let instructors edit "down to the sentence" starting this summer.
According to a statement about the investment:
(Flat World) makes its books available as free Web-hosted textbooks. It earns revenue and pays its authors royalties by providing students with options to purchase print-on-demand soft-cover textbooks, audio textbooks, and self-print individual chapters at a fraction of the cost of traditional textbooks.
The company enhances the learning experience by offering low-cost digital study aids like MP3 study guides, interactive Web quizzes, and digital flashcards.
Dave Rosenberg dishes up "Software, Interrupted" with nearly 15 years of technology and marketing experience that spans from Bell Labs to multiple start-up IPOs to open-source enterprise software companies. He is co-founder of MuleSource and currently serves as the general manager of Hardy Way. He is a member of the CNET Blog Network and is not an employee of CNET. Disclosure. You can contact Dave via e-mail at softwareinterrupted@gmail.com or follow him on Twitter @daveofdoom. 
In about 15 years.
The complex arrangement between publishers, professors and "learning institutions" that all reap benefits from the sale and resale of textbooks will resist this wholeheartedly.
I would have certainly preffered a hi-rez color e-book reader with all my textbooks loaded onto it to the 50lbs of overpriced textbooks that I was forced to buy and carry each semester. Not to mention getting 10 cents on the dollar when selling the used textbooks back.
The problem of DRM remains the sticking place in so many wonderful advantages of digital media.