Can I Assign My Own Textbook? Conflict-of-Interest Policies Explained

If you wrote a textbook for the course you teach, the obvious thing to do is assign it. The book was written for exactly these students; nobody knows the material better; and the alternative is to require a book you consider worse. Yet many instructors hesitate, because assigning a book you earn royalties on looks like a conflict of interest — and at most institutions it is one, in the formal sense, which is why most institutions have a policy about it. This guide explains the common patterns, how to find and follow your own institution's rules, and how to do it in a way that nobody could reasonably criticise. It is general information, not legal or policy advice; your institution's written policy governs.

Why it is treated as a conflict of interest

The concern is simple: an instructor who requires students to buy a book from which the instructor profits has a financial interest in a decision they make on the students' behalf. Nobody seriously suggests that instructors write textbooks to exploit their own classes — the royalties on one section of one course are small — but the appearance matters, and policies exist to manage the appearance as much as the substance.

The common policy patterns

Institutions handle this in a small number of ways, often combined.

1. Disclosure

The most common requirement: you tell someone — typically the department chair or dean — that you are assigning your own book and that you receive royalties. Some institutions also ask you to tell the students, in the syllabus.

2. Approval

Some institutions require the department or a committee to approve the adoption, usually by confirming that the book is appropriate for the course and that suitable alternatives were considered. In practice this is a short written justification.

3. Royalty arrangements for your own students

Several patterns exist:

• Waiving royalties on copies sold to your own students (some publishers can arrange this; ask).
• Donating the equivalent royalties to a student fund, scholarship, the department or a charity, with a record kept.
• Providing the book to your own students at cost, or providing the digital edition free to your own sections where the publisher's platform allows it.
• No adjustment at all, where the institution considers disclosure sufficient.

4. Restrictions on course packs and self-published materials

Policies are often stricter about materials the instructor sells directly (course packs, self-published books, lab manuals sold from the department office) than about books from an outside publisher, because the direct sale removes the independent judgement a publisher's review provides.

How to find your institution's policy

1. Search the faculty handbook and the conflict-of-interest policy for "textbook", "course materials" or "self-authored".
2. Check the provost's or academic affairs office pages; some publish a specific "faculty-authored textbook" form.
3. Ask the department chair. If there is no written policy, ask what the department's practice has been; there almost always is one.
4. If you are at a public institution, state ethics rules may also apply, and the institution's compliance office will know.

Do this before publication if you can. The arrangements are easier to set up in the author agreement than to retrofit.

Doing it well

Whatever the formal requirement, a few practices put the question beyond criticism:

• Be open. A line in the syllabus — "I am the author of the assigned text and receive royalties on its sale; I have disclosed this to the department" — costs nothing and answers the question before it is asked.
• Make the case on the merits. Keep a short note of why the book suits the course better than the alternatives. It is what an approval process asks for, and it is worth having even where none is required.
• Keep the cost reasonable. Students notice the price of a required book written by their instructor. Talk to the publisher about the formats available to your own sections; digital and rental options, or access through the institution's LMS, can bring the cost down.
• Don't require what you don't use. Assigning your own book and then teaching from your slides invites exactly the criticism the policy exists to prevent.
• Consider the royalty arrangement even if it is not required. Donating or waiving royalties on your own students' copies is a small gesture that settles the matter completely.

What about colleagues who adopt your book?

No conflict arises when other instructors, at your institution or elsewhere, choose to assign your book: they have no financial interest in the decision. Some institutions do ask department members to disclose when they adopt a colleague's book, so the department can show that the decision was made on the merits. Adoption by others is, of course, the goal — see our guide on getting your textbook adopted.

Talk to your publisher early

A publisher that works with instructor-authors regularly will have seen every version of this question and can usually accommodate whatever your institution requires — from royalty adjustments on your own sections to providing the digital edition to your students through the LMS. Raise it during the contract conversation, not after the first semester's sales. If you are still at the idea stage, an editor will happily discuss how it would work for your book.