Educational bookselling is a tough business and about to get tougher as publishers start to move to direct online sales, cutting out retail booksellers altogether.

While online sales via Amazon and other sites have hit retail booksellers hard, publishers still work with them closely in most categories, as you can’t really have a best seller without their support.

However, educational books are a weak sector for retailers and so publishers are rapidly moving to sell their products to institutions and students directly via the internet. While retail booksellers may not like this development, it seems there is nothing they can do to prevent it.