Textbook publisher offers cheaper option

The company's managing director, Sathit Uruwongwanich, said yesterday that rising inflation had reduced purchasing power and this has had a knock-on effect on the textbook market.

The percentage of university students who copy textbooks rather than purchase new ones had increased from last year.

He forecast that this year, the textbook market would grow by 4.5 per cent to 5 per cent, while Witthayaphat's revenue will rise by just 5 per cent, compared to earlier estimates of between 15 per cent to 20 per cent.

To test the market, at the beginning of this year the company brought out low-cost textbooks for subjects such as physics.

The low-cost editions only cover practical matters compared to the full editions, which cover both theory and practical aspects of the subject. Also, the low-cost textbooks are printed on proof paper instead of pound paper, which helps keep costs down.

"Therefore, we can offer our textbooks cheaper than other companies. The prices are also lower than what it costs to copy them," he said.

Witthayaphat has published the new textbooks covering seven subjects since the start of this year. Since the first semester, which began in May, the company has added law and accounting to the subjects covered.

There have been favourable responses from both teachers and students so the company plans to introduce more books covering additional subjects in the second half of this year.

"We expect to publish low-cost textbooks covering roughly 20 subjects in the second half of the year," he said.

Sathit added that the company's operational costs had risen from last year.

For instance, the cost of paper was 15-per-cent higher, while

transport costs had jumped 50 per cent so the company has had to adapt to survive.

Witthayaphat has a 10-per-cent share of the Bt1.6 billion university-textbook market.