Thursday, January 8, 2009

Surprise Bulk Orders of Compelling Conversations From Amazon

"Next to money, English is the leading international language."
Evan Esar, American humorist

A new semester means more last minute orders of class sets of textbooks, including ESL books. I'm now seeing this situation as both an ESL instructor and a small publisher.

During the last week, several schools and English teachers have purchased class sets of Compelling Conversations: Questions and Quotations on Timeless. Naturally, that development pleases me for many reasons. English teachers using the book in Chile, Rwanda, Hungary, Russia, Canada, and Italy feeds my global soul.

Yet I’ve also been surprised at how many institutions have placed their orders on Amazon where they pay the full price of $24.50 . While ordering on Amazon puts more money in my book, it seems what I call a “good mistake” in my classes. Why?

Because schools, churches, and bookstores can place their orders with Booksurge directly, receive a 40% discount, and save money. Each book will cost $14.70 instead of $24.50. If the adult school or English language school sells the books to student, the institution can even make a nice profit. Schools that provide free ESL textbooks to their students should appreciate the savings because they can also provide more materials to English language learners.
• Bottomline: If you choose to buy Compelling Conversations for your oral skills class, conversation club, or advanced ESL class, save your school and yourself some money. Order your class set from Booksurge, the book’s publisher for wholesale orders.. Call customer service the BookSurge wholesale ordering hotline at 866-308-6235 and select option #6.

Of course, textbook prices do not matter equally to all. Some elite private schools, school administrators, and wealthy English language learners might even prefer to pay full price. Perhaps ordering class sets of hard to find quality ESL books directly on Amazon better fits their needs. Amazon also works better for individual English tutors and teachers.

Yet adult schools, public programs, churches, and smaller language schools ordering 10 or more copies should be - especially in these difficult economic times – more cost conscious. As the old proverb goes, a penny saved is a penny earned.

Thank you to everyone who has already brought Compelling Conversations into their classroom, and thank you to everyone considering Compelling Conversations . I hope that deepening the connections between individuals through smarter, better conversations will help create a better, more humane, and peaceful world.

"Conversation means being able to disagree and still continue the conversation."
Dwight McDonald (1906-1982), American editor

Ask more. Know more. Share more.
Create Compelling Conversations.
Visit www.CompellingConversations.com

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