Print textbooks are the eternal punching bag for the things people think technology should render obsolete. Technologists from Thomas Edison and Steve Jobs, almost a century apart, have predicted their demise. The newest voices in that choir come from Bill and Melinda Gates, who declared that “textbooks are becoming obsolete” in their 2019 annual letter.

Not so fast, say education publishers and retailers. Even as many traditional textbook providers are transitioning to digital formats, paper and ink have proved stubbornly resilient.

Just ask Jessica Reid Sliwerski, CEO of Open Up Resources. The nonprofit publisher of K-12 curriculum launched in 2016 expecting an audience for its digital offerings. Instead, educators asked how quickly it could print out materials.

All of the nonprofit’s textbook revenue comes from print. Digital versions are made available for free. “We were sitting there scratching our heads thinking, ‘What is going on?’” Sliwerski recalled.