77 cents of every dollar spent on textbooks go to publishers. Of those 77 cents, the publishing company makes about 18 cents in pure profit, while spending 15 cents on marketing, and roughly 32 percent to cover costs (paper, printing, employee salaries, etc). At the same time, the author - the person who dedicated hundreds of hours of research to write the book – only gets about 12 cents on the dollar on average.

Answer: a minimum of $80,000, more likely around $130,000.

Recent surveys and data, interviews with educators and industry officials, and K-12 companies' development of new products underscore the enduring, widespread demand for textbooks and other paper-based materials in the nation's schools.