A High Quality Textbook at a Low Cost

I’ve recently edited and revised Personality: A Systems Approach,  creating “Edition 1.8” for August 2015.

Pearson Education published the book from 2007 to June, 2014.

In June 2014, Pearson returned the rights for the book to me and I have actively revised the text since, bringing it up to date, and have also simplified the printing and production process.

The book is now assembled here in Durham, NH, and published online, available through Amazon.com and other booksellers.

My revision of the textbook is focused on making it a better and more up-to-date reading experience, while also simplifying the formatting of the book so as to reduce its production costs.

For those interested in the technical details: The new editions use a single column layout for every page and are printed in black and white. (Pearson used a “one color” design and a two-column layout for every page.

To make the transition from the 1st edition as seamless as possible I rewrote (and sometimes deleted) the boxed features of the first edition and integrated the best material in the narrative itself. (Users of the first edition can see a “box-by-box” account of what happened here).

The availability of low-cost print-on-demand services online has made it possible for me to upload a copy of the book and then to allow students to order the book from anywhere in the US  and abroad. That meant that I could produce the book with relatively little financial investment ahead of time and make it available to classrooms around the country.

Because of my lower production costs, I’ve been able to lower the price of Personality: A Systems Approach while improving the quality of the educational resource.

~ John D. Mayer