Well, my thought is that there's room for a new type of textbook publisher. I think the textbook industry is on the cusp of a true innovator's dilemma. LOTS of different ways to innovate here, but it would be insanely difficult. Anything worth disrupting is though.
Do we need books, as such? Or, do we always need educational material to be in book form? I love books, they were my best friends in childhood. And I am a bit of a traditionalist about education - snooty about handwriting, spelling, grammar and numeracy (educated in Ireland, where the education system was design by priests).
But for learning, we are grossly underusing computers. Much educational software just looks stupid. And while India and other places are trying to focus on the idea of one laptop per child, the US is awash in expensive and bad textbooks. this points to a further slide in our future economic competitiveness.
I agree. The market is huge and if you can break into it it would be great. It's just insanely difficult as you said. My approach would be to target the smaller districts that can choose for themselves and focus on supplementary materials. After that I'd work my way up to the "core."
It just seems that when a state is making such a decision, it's difficult to compete as the little guy. The other publishers have a lot more money behind them and a probable lobbying effort.
You need parents to start reading the textbooks that kids have in order for changes to happen - otherwise the textbooks will just appeal to the "average."
I wouldn't start with the k-12 sector at first. I'd start with areas where you can impact at a more individual level to build up momentum:
- Non state colleges
- Tutoring programs
- Abroad
- Home schooling
