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[mpeters]

One of the responses from publishers is a new textbook every semester. The effect of such a policy is to make the value of the current textbook zero at the end of the semester. There are also no longer any used textbooks. Student complaints about the cost of new textbooks will jump to a higher level.

http://chronicle.com/free/2008/07/3623n.htm

[inthelab]

maybe not.  Especially if some placces make it an ethical violation for a professor to assign his/her authored text to his/her class.  Kids will list on eBay, Amazon, Craig's List, Free Classifieds online, the college paper.
Without producing a true new edition each year, publishers will just change the cover.  Even professors point this out to students.

[csguy]

One of the responses from publishers is a new textbook every semester. The effect of such a policy is to make the value of the current textbook zero at the end of the semester. There are also no longer any used textbooks. Student complaints about the cost of new textbooks will jump to a higher level.

I suspect there would be a fair amount of faculty pushback to a new text every semester. Every year or two is annoying enough.

[bms2000]

Seems that more professors would either keep older textbooks longer, or go to handouts and such.