In The News

Flat World Knowledge: A Textbook Case for Disruption
Now that they have their first full sales cycle behind them, it’s time to check in with one of my favorite examples of a startup bent on upending a publishing industry by David Weir
January 21st, 2010: Flat World Knowledge concluded its first semester of operation successfully, supplying some 480 classes in 430 institutions with relatively cheap, open-source, digital textbooks.

2010 Horizon Report
Horizon highlights Flat World Knowledge as an open content innovator in the new 2010 Horizon Report, an influential research report on higher ed technology trends
January 18th, 2010: An outgrowth of that perspective is the emergence of open-content textbooks that can be "remixed" - that is, customized, modified, or combined with other
materials — and a number of publishers are finding ways to support authors of such materials. One such publisher, Flat World Knowledge, provides access
to textbooks authored for open use, making it very easy for faculty to individually tailor a text for use in their own class.

VentureBeat
Technological advances allow for alternatives to expensive textbooks by Russel Moench
October 13th, 2009: "The education industry is on the cusp of being massively disrupted by innovation in Web technology. Like other industries prior, it would like to pretend that it can weather the storm and continues business as usual, with only minor tweaking. We all know how that story ends.”

Post-Gazette.com
Technological advances allow for alternatives to expensive textbooks by Bill Schackner
October 13th, 2009: " Some professors are creating reading lists that cost students less by using all or parts of books culled from such publishers of open source materials as Flat World Knowledge, based in Nyak, N.Y.So far, the two-year-old enterprise has produced about a dozen titles under open license, mostly for business classes, that can be read online for free, or purchased as soft-covers for $29.95 in black and white or $59.95 in color, plus $5 shipping.”

US News and World Report
4 Ways to Get College Textbooks Free by Kim Clark
September 2, 2009: " Flatworld Knowledge, a start-up, has posted 11 business-oriented textbooks, which are being used in more than 300 colleges, free on its Web page in the hopes of persuading students to pay $29.95 for paper versions or $39.95 for audio versions."

The Washington Times
Digital texts could turn page on print costs by Karen Goldberg Goff
September 2, 2009: "Flat World, founded in 2007, has several dozen college texts expressly written -- and approved by professors -- for the company. Last spring, about 1,000 students at 30 colleges ordered books from Flat World. For the fall semester, 38,000 students and 350 colleges are using the online service, Mr. Frank said. He estimates a typical cost savings of 82 percent per student."

ArsTechnia
Flat World schools textbook publishers with free Web editions by Nate Anderson
August 24, 2009: " Flat World Knowledge offers Creative Commons-licensed collegiate textbooks free of charge on the Web, but it charges modest fees for print versions, DRM-free PDF files, and audiobooks. After two semesters of beta testing, the company sees plenty of money to be made from "free.""

Information Week
Flat World: Freemium Made Workable by Serdar Yegulalp
August 21, 2009: "After Thursday's column about open textbook publisher Flat World Knowledge, I got in touch with Flat World co-founder Eric Frank and talked about many of the things I'd worried about. How do you make things that are free and open, but also useful and profitable?"

Publishers Weekly
Number of Students, Colleges Using Flat World Knowledge Digital Texts Soars by Jim Milliot
August 20, 2009: "Flat World went live in spring 2009 with 1,000 students from 30 colleges using its offerings. Eric Frank, a cofounder of Flat World, said that while the company’s marketing efforts explained some of the jump, a lot of the increase came from word of mouth."

bNET News
Flat World Knowledge: A Disruptive Business Model by Dave Weir
August 20, 2009: "The company projects that it will save college students and their families around $3 million this fall, but that is only the tip of the iceberg, because current growth rates suggest that the company will be serving more than 200,000 students by the end of next year — a five-fold increase over current levels — with plenty of upside market potential left with an estimated U.S. college student population of some 17 million-plus."

WIRED blog
Open Source Textbook Company Now BMOC at 400 Colleges by John C. Abell
August 20, 2009: "What did you do this summer? Flat World Knowledge stayed busy on campus and now has 40 times as many students and more than 10 times the colleges using their freemium, open-source digital textbooks as they did spring semester. And they did it the old-fashioned way — one professor at a time."

CBC News
The future of the textbook by Dan Mesener
August 11, 2009: "College and university textbooks are notoriously expensive. As a Toronto Star story from earlier this year explains, “engineering and medical textbooks are particularly expensive and can range from $150 to $300 for a single book. It’s not unusual for students in other areas of study to spend more than $1,000 annually on textbooks."

The Washington Post
The First Big Test: Watching Expenses by Johnathan Starkey
August 2, 2009: "The bill to outfit a freshman can run to thousands of dollars if you're not careful, financial advisers say. As recession losses have whittled down college funds and as part-time jobs have become more elusive, families are finding creative ways to stretch each dollar. "

US News and World Report
Classrooms Go High-Tech to Engage Students by Megan K. Scott
July 16, 2009: "Students are also getting textbooks for free thanks to companies like Flat World Knowledge in Nyack, N.Y. Professors can customize the expert-authored, online books to fit their lectures, deleting chapters or sections, for example. Students can read them for free or choose to buy from a range of alternatives that include a soft-cover black-and-white version for $29."

Google Books
Excerpt from Free: The Future of a Radical Price by Chris Anderson
July 7, 2009: In chapter 9 of his new book, Chris Anderson joins the likes of Fortune Magazine (Small Business Edition) and Outsell, a media industry analyst firm, in suggesting that Flat World Knowledge's unique business model may be the future of textbook publishing. Available for free on Google books, Free: The Future of a Radical Price explores new media models and reveals how the traditional approach of publishing fails students, authors, and publishers alike.

CNet News
Maker of 'open,' free textbooks raises $8 million by Dave Rosenberg
March 26, 2009: "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. "

Media Shift
Read for Free, Pay for Print or Stuff by Michael Josefowicz
February 25th, 2009: "In an age where the digital revolution is climaxing, the move toward non-print media is more progressive than ever. Flat World Knowledge, a new innovative publishing company, will apply the "read for free, pay for print or stuff" model to their business. They will create Open Source College Textbooks to cater to "reader" tribes of students in the formal education system"

Wired Blog Network
Flat World Knowledge to Bring Free Textbooks into Blackboard
by Chris Snyder
February 4th, 2009: "Flat World Knowledge, a free, open source textbook publisher, has announced plans to add support for direct integration of its books into campus learning management systems (LMS) like Blackboard and ANGEL. With Flat World's LMS-supported textbooks, professors and publishers will be able to include supplementary material content in its entirety available directly on the platform and split up chapters into various folders according to their syllabus. "

Other Coverage...