The 2008 TAA Conference will be held this Thursday, June 19 in Las Vegas. Online conference registration will close Tuesday, June, 17 at 12 noon Central Time. You can still register on-site at Harrah's Friday, June 20 between 7:30 and 8 a.m.
View a map of the meeting rooms
|
New TAA Conference Roundtable Discussion:
Journal Authoring & Publishing
Moderated by Kenneth Henson, Distinguished Professor of Education, School of Education, The Citadel
Learn more about the TAA Conference
View more Roundtable Discussions
|
2008 TAA Conference to feature mentoring sessions by veteran authors
More than a dozen veteran authors have volunteered to provide free 15-minute mentoring sessions at the 2008 TAA Conference in Las Vegas.
If you are attending the conference and did not receive the mentoring session sign up schedule via email, or have not signed up for a mentoring session yet, please contact Kim Pawlak.
There are still several mentoring sessions available.
View the mentor list
|
2008 TAA Conference to feature mentoring sessions by authoring attorneys, literary agent
Authoring Attorney Stephen Gillen of Greenebaum Doll & McDonald, and Authoring Attorney and Literary Agent Michael Lennie, of Lennie Literary & Author's Attorney, will be offering free 15-minute mentoring sessions at the 2008 TAA Conference in Las Vegas.
If you are attending the conference and did not receive a sign up schedule via email, or have not signed up for a mentoring session with Gillen or Lennie, please contact Kim Pawlak.
There are still a few mentoring session times left.
Learn more about Gillen and Lennie
|
2008 TAA Conference
Featured Sponsor |
Visit Our Sponsor
|
TAA thanks Sustaining Members
Allen R. Angel, James Kalat, Fredric Lutgens, and David I. Schneider
TAA thanks Contributing Member
Frank Wang
|
Busy TAA People:
Guesna Dohrman, a professor of mathematics at Tallahassee Community College, recently started a non-profit organization called SOMETHINGPOSITIVE. Based in Tampa, Florida, it's mission is to encourage and promote physical activity for people with MS in the Tallahassee and Tampa, Florida areas.
William Koenecke received tenure from the Murray State Univeristy Board of Regents on Friday, May 16, 2008. He has also signed a contract with Kendall Hunt for a book to be published in December 2008. It has the working title: "Improving the Writing Skills of Tomorrow's Teacher."
Jean A. Lukesh received her doctorate in education (Ed.D.) from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln on May 9, 2008. Lukesh is the author of the award-winning history textbook, The Nebraska Adventure.
Share your news
Read more Busy TAA People
|
Please take a minute to fill out the 2008 TAA Member Survey
Your answers will help us shape future member benefits!
|
|
|
Greetings!
TAA is pleased to announce the launch of its recently redesigned website.
In addition to a more streamlined look and better navigation tools, the redesigned website has many new user-friendly features.
The new website allows you to login to a section devoted solely to the interests of textbook authors, or a section devoted solely to the interests of academic authors, or both.
We recognize that although our members have similar interests, not every academic is ready or has the inclination to write textbooks or other instructional materials, and not every textbook author is still publishing scholarly journal articles, working on his or her dissertation, or writing book monographs. By allowing you to choose only the content you are interested in, we hope to encourage you to visit the TAA website more often.
Non-members can tour The Member Center and look inside some of its sections, such as How-to articles, Writer's Block essays, Authors Asking Q&A's, and the Mentor-A-Member mentoring directory.
Navigation buttons at the top of the page allow you to learn more about TAA, and its workshops, teleconferences and awards. You can also see what action issues TAA has been and is working on, and purchase members' books in the "Books for Purchase" section.
We hope the more user-friendly website enables you to take full advantage of the services and benefits TAA has to offer, including free mentoring; free teleconferences; discounts on editing services, books and attorney fees; and publication grants of up to $750.
To access the members-only features of the TAA website you will need your member username and password. If you do not have them, please email Jodi Matson.
Sincerely,
Richard Hull
Executive Director
Text and Academic Authors Association
Send me an email
(608) 687-3106
|
TAA Headquarters staff will be away June 17-22
TAA Headquarters staff will be away at the 2008 TAA Conference in Las Vegas Wednesday, June 17 to Sunday, June 22. If you need to reach someone during that time please email TAA Associate Executive Director Kim Pawlak at kim.pawlak@taaonline.net or call (507) 459-1363.
|
Textbook author shares her experience working with literary agent
Dr. Cynthia Arem hired literary agent Michael Lennie of Lennie Literary & Authors Attorneys to negotiate the contract for her most recent book, Conquering Writing Anxiety. He is also negotiating the terms for her Conquering Reading Anxiety book, which is in the proposal stage, and negotiating the terms for the third edition of her Conquering Math Anxiety: A Self-Help Workbook with CD, 2nd Edition, published by Brooks/Cole.
"I previously negotiated my own contracts, and in retrospect, realized that I gave too many of my rights away, and I was missing important clauses in the contracts; clauses which would have been to my benefit," she said. "I find that my agent fights for me. I don't have to deal with contract negotiations with my publisher. My agent knows contract law and works to get me the best contract terms an author can get."
Read entire article
|
Microsoft ends Live Search Books and Live Search Academic projects
Microsoft announced on May 23, 2008 in its Live Search blog that it is ending its Live Search Books and Live Search Academic projects. The sites have already been taken down. The company also said that it is winding down its digitization initiatives, including its library scanning and in-copyright book programs. The blog post, written by Satya Nadella, Microsoft's senior vice president search, portal and advertising, encouraged libraries to build on the platform Microsoft developed with its partners to create digital archives available to library users and search engines.
|
Capella University makes comprehensive online Academic Writing Center available to the public
A comprehensive online academic writing center developed by Capella University primarily for graduate level students is now available to the public at www.capellawritingcenter.org. Capella, which is an accredited online university that focuses on master's and PhD degrees, created the Online Writing Center to provide its 23,000-plus students with instruction, resources, and strategies to help them navigate the writing process and develop clear and effective academic writing.
|
New CCC Podcast: Book Industry TRENDS 2008
The Copyright Clearance Center's Beyond the Book website has a new podcast, Book Industry TRENDS 2008: The Only Complete View of the Book Publishing Industry, featuring Michael Healy, executive director of the Book Industry Study Group (BISG), and Professor Albert N. Greco of Fordham University and the Institute for Publishing Research.
Healy and Greco discuss the highlights of the TRENDS report, which covers publishers under $50 million in annual revenue, as well as larger publishing companies, and provides data on all aspects of the U.S. book business.
Listen to the podcast at www.beyondthebook.com
Order a copy of the report
|
Participate in Authors Guild summer teleconferences
The Authors Guild is holding summer seminars and roundtables by phone on how to promote your book before and after its publication, how to negotiate a better book contract, how to register your copyright, and tax tips for writers. The cost for members is $10 per seminar. The non-member fee is $60 per seminar. Normal long-distance phone charges to Minnesota apply.
Learn more & register
|
How to find a textbook publisher
By Kim Seidel
If you have an idea for a new textbook a great way to start looking for a publisher is by attending your discipline's annual meeting -- which typically hosts book vendors -- where you may be able to make some good contacts with publishing companies, said Dr. Laura Taalman, a mathematics professor at James Madison University.
"It is worth stopping by the exhibit booths of the publishers you are interested in; the editor you seek might be right there," she said. "Sales reps can sometimes give you an idea if your book fits in with their company's list. They also will often have contact information for the appropriate editors."
When Taalman was looking for a publisher for her textbook, Integrated Calculus: Calculus With Precalculus and Algebra, (which was published in 2004 by Houghton Mifflin) she shopped the idea around to sales reps at her university and at yearly math meetings. "The sales reps communicated with the math editors and someone turned out to be interested," she said.
Read the entire article
|
Tips for writing at home when you're not alone
Here's something Jane Karwoski, an adjunct professor of psychology at the University of Nevada Las Vegas, started recently that seems to really work to keep family members from interrupting her when she's writing at home:
"I put my ID badge around my neck! That way even when I am away from my desk my husband knows I'm working even if not in my office. It also helps ME stay on task.
I show a video to my History of Psych class about B. F. Skinner's Basement (where he wrote). He connected a timer to his desk lamp. When his children came down to talk to him he would turn that light off. He would then turn away from his desk and give them his undivided attention. When the chat was concluded, he would turn the light (and therefore the timer) back on. Great way of easily keeping track of how much of the day he was really getting some work done, but still being accessible to his kids.
It would be possible to combine these two approaches in a very low tech manner. In addition to my I.D. badge, I could add a lightweight stopwatch to click on and off. Over the top? Perhaps, but I think it would be a good reality check and reveal the true extent of my distractibility!
(If you MUST have it linked to your lamp, you could try your past issues of Popular Electronics or check this site to look for an appropriate How To article.)"
|
Authors Asking
Q: How do you bring your writing projects to completion? Do you write daily, in large blocks? What strategies do you use to overcome "writer's block"? What have you done to improve your writing skills? How do you manage your time so that you find time for writing?
A: Joan Carnosso RN, PhD(c), CCRN, Associate Professor, Nursing Department, Boise State University: "I am new to authoring and writing for that matter. I am working on finishing my dissertation and it has been a struggle for me since I really never believed that I liked to write and I sure didn't believe I was good at it. So I knew that I needed to do something to boost my confidence. I applied and got accepted to two workshops. One is Writing across the curriculum, and the other is the National Writing Project. Both of which are this summer. There is a great deal of reading and writing in both of these classes and much of the reading needed to be done before the projects start. So I just finished reading a GREAT book that I highly suggest to anyone. It is called "Bird by Bird" by Anne Lamott. She is an author who writes about her experience with writing. She discusses all of the questions that you had. She suggests writing down things you want to write about. I started a journal (just a small notebook) and on one page have written down subjects that I could write about. My family, each one of my five children, mean girl syndrome, my childhood, my expereinces with each one of my siblings. These are just examples, of course I would like to be a scholarly writer but first I must enhance my confidence with writing. So each morning I get up and I have files on my computer and I open up one and just start typing. I write at least 300 words doing that in a day. Then of course I need to spend time working on my dissertation. But let me tell you I am actually starting to enjoy writing. Every time I get the opportunity now to write I do. I have been writing letters to my friends, taking notes, journaling, writing every chance I get. I keep the little notebook with me and write down quotes I see or words I like. I write down the names of books I would like to read, etc. The National Writing Project and Lamotts book have been a huge influence on me."
A: Andrew P. Johnson, Ph.D., Professor of Holistic Education, Department of Special Education, Minnesota State University, Mankato: "Too many articles never get submitted because the writer is trying to get it just right -- Believe me, no matter what you submit, the reviewers will have something to say. Use them to fine tune your article."
Read more Authors Asking Q&As
|
Authors Asking
Q: I find that I am forever writing different versions of the same thing, leaving me with the problem of collating them, or blending them together. Also wastes time, of course, to duplicate effort like that. I wonder if working more from hard copy of ONE draft as I go along would help (spend more paper and less time??). Although computer has obvious advantages, it is deranging to me to not be able to see it all at once. Sometimes I literally cut and paste which helps. Using the collapsible outline in Word should work, but the formatting always drives me buggy. It does't LOOK like an outline with all the different heading styles and colors. Other things to try?"
A: Andrew P. Johnson, Ph.D., Professor of Holistic Education, Department of Special Education, Minnesota State University, Mankato: "Words put order to chaos/thought. My process --
1. Start with draft in written form.
2. Put garbage on the page -- Most people get stuck trying to get it perfect ... At this stage you are a potter throwing a blob of clay on the wheel.
3. Then start shaping -- take away -- add.
Outlines are flexible ways to get you thinking ahead -- However, trust your unconscious mind. Slow the mind. Focus on one sentence at a time. Then one paragraph at a time. Then one section at a time. Let other things leak out onto the page but focus just on the sentence, paragraph, section. The time to take a holistic sense of your article is when you are printing off a hard copy during the editing stage."
Read more Authors Asking Q&A's
|
TAA Listserv split in two
TAA has split the TAA Listserv into two separate Listservs, one for textbook authors and one for academic authors. Choose which Listserv (or you can subscribe to both) you would like to subscribe to, and subscribe yourself. The current TAA Listserv will only remain active for a few months to allow members to switch over to the new Listservs.
Subscribe to the Textbook Authoring Listserv by sending an email to TAATextbookAuthoring-on@mail-list.com
Subscribe to the Academic Authoring Listserv by sending an email to TAAAcademicAuthoring-on@mail-list.com
You can switch to the Digest version of the Textbook Authoring Listserv, in which you receive only one email message per week with all that week's posts contained within it, by sending an email to TAATextbookAuthoring-switch@mail-list.com
once you have been subscribed.
To switch to the Digest version of the Academic Authoring Listserv, send an email to TAAAcademicAuthoring-switch@mail-list.com once you have been subscribed.
After you are subscribed to the Textbook Authoring Listserv, send messages to TAATextbookAuthoring@mail-list.com
After you are subscribed to the Academic Authoring Listserv, send messages to TAAAcademicAuthoring@mail-list.com
If you have any questions, please email Kim Pawlak
|
TAA Teleconference Series
Listen to the recordings from TAA's Spring Teleconference series in the members-only section of the TAA website.
"Tips & Tricks for the Do-It-Yourself Indexer" moderated by Seth Maislin: Listen Now
"Don't Settle For a Publisher's Standard Contract: Terms You Can & Should Negotiate" moderated by Authoring Attorney Stephen Gillen: Listen Now
"A Coach's Perspective on Finishing a Dissertation" Teleconference moderated by Dave Harris: Listen Now
"Royalty Q&A" Teleconference moderated by Paul Rosenzweig, former president of Royalty Review Service: Listen Now
"Publish & Flourish: Become a Prolific Scholar" Teleconference moderated by Tara Gray: Listen Now
Suggest Topics for the Fall
TAA Teleconference Series
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
