Conference Registration is now open.
Register Early and Receive Two Free Books!
 
read review
The first 30 conference registrants will receive a copy of Robert Boice's Professors as Writers: A Self-Help Guide to Productive Writing, (read review) donated by the publisher, New Forums Press, and Self-Publishing Textbooks and Instructional Materials by Franklin H. Silverman, donated by the publisher, Atlantic Path Publishing.
Register here
View the Preliminary Conference Schedule
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FEATURED SPONSOR
of the 2009 TAA Conference Roundtable Discussions Luncheon
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FEATURED SPONSOR
of the 2009 TAA Conference Networking Hospitality Hour
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2009 TAA CONFERENCE SPONSORS
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SAVE THE DATE!
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TAA member benefit:
TAA Publication Grants
TAA has up to $7,500 available for making TAA Publication Grants in 2008-2009. Grants will be awarded on a first-come, first-served basis. The grant period runs from July 1, 2008 to June 30, 2009.
TAA members can apply for a Publication Grant of up to $750 to cover expenses incurred in publishing already accepted print academic journal and book and textbooks including academic journal page costs or university press subventions; the cost of preparing artwork or other charts, diagrams, or images to be included in accepted journal articles or academic books or textbooks; and journal reprint costs. Grants are also available for expenses incurred as a direct result of research leading to publication of a book or article, including:
- Interlibrary loan costs, or computer time costs incurred in the analysis of data, leading to publication of academic print materials.
- Costs of single photocopies of source materials for research related to the publication of an article or book.
- Costs of secretarial (copying and/or delivery) services incurred in the preparation of academic print materials.
- Cost of permissions incurred in the preparation of academic print materials for reprinting images, quoted material.
How to Apply:
Download a PDF form and mail to:
TAA Executive Director Richard Hull,
3241 Heather Hill Lane,
Tallahassee, FL 32309-2307
Members who joined TAA through a workshop and received a gift membership or received a membership as a gift from a colleague are not eligible to apply until they have renewed their membership for a second year.
The following members have received TAA Publication Grants:
Reika Yokochi
Marguerite Rippy
Michael Krausz
Joselina Cheng
Dannielle Joy Davis
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Subscribe to TAA Listservs
Subscribe to one or both of TAA's Listservs, one on textbook authoring and one on academic authoring.
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
Read the archives for both Listservs here
If you have any questions, please email Kim Pawlak
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Greetings!
We are almost to the end of TAA's Spring 09 Teleconference Series (the last teleconference, "How to Apply Mainstream Book Publicity Strategies to Academia" will be held on Thurs. April 23 at 2 p.m. CST) and I would like to give you a sneak peek of what we are planning for TAA's Fall 09 Teleconference Series:
Making the Most of the Author-Editor Relationship: Insights From An Author & Editor
Presented by Elsa Peterson, a freelance editor with 25 years of experience in the college textbook industry; and Bruno Dyck, Professor at the I.H. Asper School of Business, University of Manitoba in Winnipeg, Canada and lead author of Management: Current Practices and New Directions (Cengage, 2010)
As a first-time textbook author, what can you expect from the editorial process? From the editor's viewpoint, how does a publisher decide what kinds of editorial support a given book needs? What can an author do to get maximum benefits from the editors he or she works with? If you think of "editor" as someone who corrects grammar and punctuation, this teleconference will surprise and enlighten you.
How Authors Can Navigate Successfully Through Copyright-Related Issues
Presented by C. Jeffrey Belliston, Scholarly Communications Librarian and Chair, Office of Digital Content Management, Brigham Young University; and Elsa Peterson, a freelance editor with 25 years of experience in permissions editing, picture research, and manuscript development
Are you entirely clear on what copyright is, how long it lasts, and what it does and doesn't protect? Do you know the difference between public domain and fair use? How do you decide whether something is fair use? Where do you draw the line between legitimate paraphrasing and plagiarism? If you need permission to use copyrighted material, how do you get it? When you submit an article to a journal publisher, what are your rights as author? What's the latest on the Digitial Millennium Copyright Act and related legislation? This teleconference will provide food for thought on these and other copyright-related issues.
Mary Ellen Lepionka, author of Writing and Developing College Textbook Supplements (2005), will be presenting a two-part series on textbook supplements and ancilliaries; and Sonja Foss and William Waters will be back to do a teleconference on some aspect of writing for publication.
We have many more teleconferences planned, and few of them will be two-part teleconferences to provide you with more in-depth information about some topics. If you have ideas for other teleconferences you'd like to see this Fall, please email me at kim.pawlak@taaonline.net and we'll do our best to make it happen!
Sincerely,
Kim Pawlak
Associate Executive Director
kim.pawlak@taaonline.net
(608) 687-3106
(507) 459-1363 cell
www.TAAonline.net
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TAA Teleconference
If you are looking for ways to help your publisher publicize your book, or you are a self-published author, you won't want to miss this teleconference:
How to Apply Mainstream Book Publicity Strategies to Academia
Thursday, April 23, 2 p.m. Central Time (12 p.m. Pacific; 1 p.m. Mountain; 3 p.m. Eastern)
Presented by Michelle A. Blackley, Literary Publicist, Don't Judge a Book by its Cover
With today's viral marketplace even academic authors can become strong competitors in the popular fiction and non-fiction book categories. Learn what publicity strategies work for mainstream writers and how they can be applied in academia. Some publishers do supply their own marketing efforts to your campaign, but what can you do outside their influence in the marketplace? Getting in libraries, local bookstores and online tours, sales and content are just a few categories we'll cover.
Michelle A. Blackley is a literary publicist with experience on both the agency and production sides of publishing. Her company, Don't Judge a Book by its Cover, implements public relations campaigns for a wide variety of book authors. Her experience includes planning speaking and book tours, and media placement via her contacts with journalists, book reviewers and broadcast producers. She has worked for Robert Gottlieb at Trident Media Group, LLC, DETAILS magazine (New York City) and Messenger Post Newspapers in Rochester, NY. As publicity manager at IIL Publishing, New York, Blackley took a start-up book division with one title to a multiple title publisher with books in mainstream brick-and-mortar and online stores. Blackley is also an adjunct lecturer of communication at Buffalo State College and volunteers for Project F.L.I.G.H.T. an important part of the literacy community that provides intergenerational families with opportunities for individual and family growth, parenting, socialization, education and job skills training. Originally from Western New York, Michelle is a graduate of State University of New York at Fredonia and received a Master's degree from New York University. She also studied literature at the Institute of Public Administration in Dublin, Ireland.
Sign up by email Teleconference Coordinator Ginny Pawlak at ginny.pawlak@taaonline.net or here
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Book Review
Paul Gray and David E. Drew
What They Didn't Teach You in Graduate School: 199 Helpful Hints for Success in Your Academic Career
Paul Gray and David E. Drew
Professors as What They Didn't Teach You in Graduate School: 199 Helpful Hints for Success in Your Academic Career
Sterling, VA: Stylus Publishing, LLC, 2008
ISBN: 978-1-57922-264-2
147 pages
Reviewed by Joellen E. Coryell
As a second year assistant professor and member of a department that will begin offering its first PhD program this fall, I jumped at the chance to review Paul Gray and David E. Drew's recent book, What They Didn't Teach You in Graduate School: 199 Helpful Hints for Success in Your Academic Career. The authors offer 15 chapters and four appendices of numbered hints based on their (and others') practical experiences in U.S. academe. With a humorous, sometimes cynical, and always straightforward style, Gray and Drew present valuable hints about how to navigate, survive, and succeed in graduate school, finding a job, teaching and service, administration, and the tenure and promotion process.
A basic theme throughout the book is the importance of networking. First, they recommend getting to know the top 100 scholars in one's discipline (Hint #2). Then, throughout the book, it is clear that making time to build and foster good relationships with academic colleagues (in and outside of the department/institution), staff, students, research/teaching assistants, and publishers is vital to professional success and happiness. Chapters on teaching, research, tenure, rank, salary, and Life as an Academic present useful tips about what to expect and what is expected. They also offer essential insight into academic writing with two extensive chapters (Writing and On Publishing) and two particularly helpful appendices (The Dissertation and Writing Tips). Finally, sections on diversity, outside income, and personal health complete this comprehensive reference. Some of my favorite hints include:
#1: Gray's Theorem of N+2. The number of papers required for tenure is N+2, where N is the number you published. Corollary: Gray's Theorem is independent of N.
#4: Drew's Law: Every paper can be published somewhere. Your first papers will be rejected. Don't worry about this. View the reviewer's complete misunderstanding of your brilliance as cheap editorial help. Use his or her advice to revise. Every paper has a market. If Journal A rejects it, make the appropriate changes and send it to Journal B. If the work is sound, someone will publish it.
#39: Teaching is a great personal satisfaction and an important public good that you perform. However, publications are your only form of portable wealth.
#108: Never, never become a department chair, even an acting department chair, unless you are a tenured full professor.
#140: In writing the Nth paper, make your contribution to the issue clear -- whatever it is, be explicit in claiming it in the paper. The reviewers need to be convinced that the manuscript contains something new that merits publishing.
#149 recommends not becoming Editor in Chief or Department Editor of any publication early in one's career; however, #150 highly suggests one should serve as a reviewer for journals, particularly top journals.
#158: Completion Time. No matter how long you think it will take to write a paper based on your research; see the paper you just submitted in print; complete a research project; prepare a new course; [or] prepare for a session of a course you gave previously: it will always take longer.
# 191: Minimize stress. Although we go into academia because we think it involves little stress, that's a legend that is not true. If you're junior and nontenured, you can expect that gaining tenure will be the most intense, stressful experience you will face in your entire career.
Throughout the book, I found myself surprised at times, concurring at others, and laughing aloud often. We know the processes of completing a doctorate degree, finding a job, and negotiating the challenges and successes of the professoriate require specific skills that are not typically addressed in graduate courses or previous work experiences. The fortunate novice may find a mentor who can guide him or her through portions of the academic trajectory. Happily, the rest now have an indispensible guidebook for that exciting, perilous, and often mysterious journey.
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Reviewed by Joellen E. Coryell
Joellen E. Coryell is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Interdisciplinary Learning and Teaching and Co-Director of the M.A. in Adult Learning and Teaching program at the University of Texas at San Antonio. She received her M.Ed. from Texas State University and her PhD in Educational Human Resource Development from Texas A&M University. Within the specific discipline of the learning and teaching that occurs in adulthood, her research encompasses interdisciplinary professional development of higher education faculty and instructors of adults in diverse global and cultural/linguistic settings. She is also the coordinator of an international doctoral student research forum where students can network with each other and with experienced researchers and educators to support their academic development and dissertation research.
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2009 Texty, McGuffey Award winners share advice
Advice from Andreas Stark, author of Seismic Methods and Applications, 1st. ed (Texty winner):
"The advice I can give to new authors is that in order to write a text on any subject, one needs to have a solid understanding of the subject matter as well as the audience for which it will be written. Make sure you try out the materials and listen to the feedback from your students so that you understand where their difficulties are in understanding the subject matter. Build from basic examples to the more advanced knowledge levels and give some examples on how to apply the material. Never assume that certain principles have been taught somewhere else as it quite often has not been taught or has been forgotten.
It should also be noted that developing a text takes many years of preparation as well as many hours of typing, editing and re-editing. The results can be quite satisfying however, as is the case here. Not only because of winning the award, but also because the reception by my students has been very good and they find the text very informative."
Advice from C. Donald Ahrens, Meteorology Today, 9th ed. (McGuffey winner):
"Publishing a textbook is much different today than it was when I first started. However, for the new author my advice is still the same: Be involved in all aspects of publishing your book - from the design to the art work, make sure you have input. It's your book. Don't be rushed through the process. Make sure the book the publisher is printing is the book you want your name on."
Read more advice from 2009 TAA Texty and McGuffey winners: click here
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Listen to recordings of 2009 TAA Teleconferences
TAA members can now listen to the following 2009 TAA Teleconference recordings:
- Taxes and Authors - What You Should Know
- Royalties: Are You Unknowingly Losing Money?
- Writing and Editing Effectively Using 'Fast Writing' and 'Slow Editing'
- Negotiation of Author-Publisher Contracts for the Experienced Author, Part One & Two
- Grants Gamesmanship
- Is Textbook Writing for You?
- You Want to Write a Textbook? Here's How to Do It!
Listen to the recordings here
You will need your member username and password to access the recordings. Please email kim.pawlak@taaonline.net if you don't have a username and password.
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Tech Bit: Do away with voice mail
I hate voice mail.
You have to call in to retrieve it, if it's for your cell phone getting your voicemail is burning minutes.
A lot of the messages aren't worth returning, and some people leave their whole life history in each voice mail.
I don't do voice mail any more.
I switched over to PhoneTag (http://www.phonetag.com), until just recently called Simulscribe).
They sent me a magic "code" to key into my cell phone, which set it to call forward calls when I don't answer to a special telephone number they assigned me when I signed up.
So if you call me and I don't answer you hear the same message I would have used for my cell phone. You leave your message. PhoneTag transcribes it. I get the message via text message and email (the email includes an MP3 recording of the message).
Because the text message arrives silently, I can see your message while in a meeting. Or while overseas.
Feel free to use my referral code to sign up
https://apps.simulscribe.com/signup/r/184315
I even promise to return your call.
Gregg Marshall, CPMR, CSP, is a speaker, author and consultant. He can be reached by e-mail at
gmarshall (AT) repconnection.com, or visit his website at http://www.repconnection.com
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Blogs help textbook authors connect with users, potential adoptersBy Mark McGroarty
Blogs (web pages that can be regularly updated with journal-style entries) have become an essential marketing tool for non-fiction authors, and now many textbook authors are also finding them to be a great way to build relationships with their readers and to market their work.
Kevin Patton, author of five textbooks on anatomy and physiology, manages several blogs, including The A&P Student (http://theapstudent.blogspot.com), in which he posts study tips for students and advice on how to make the best use of his books. Another of his blogs, The A&P Professor (http://theapprofessor.blogspot.com), provides teaching tips and resources, including insight into his books' construction and how to use them effectively, as well as announcements of new revisions and ancillaries.
"I use my blogs to establish a presence with users of my textbooks and potential users, to let them get to know me and connect with me," said Patton. "It also helps explain the concepts behind how my textbooks are put together."
Author Sheila Curran Bernard maintains separate blogs to promote and market her book Documentary Storytelling (http://docustory.blogspot.com) and the co-authored Archival Storytelling (http://archivalstorytelling.blogspot.com), both of which deal with current issues and sell on both the trade and text markets. "The blogs and linked sites help maintain a fresh presence with current readers and, hopefully, attract new readers. It's targeted marketing that costs next to nothing."
Both authors created their blogs on Google's free hosted service, Blogger, which, along with WordPress and TypePad, is one of the "big three" blogging services. How difficult was the process? According to Patton, "It takes about five minutes - if you type slowly."
The bigger challenge is bringing in traffic. Author and publisher Mary Ellen Lepionka, who averages around 750 visitors a month to her blog (http://www.atlanticpathpublishing.com/blog/blog.html) on the Atlantic Path Publishing website, offers the following tips: "Blog often enough for search engine bots to notice, provide useful material, use straightforward, descriptive tags/ keywords, link to your blog site from everywhere, add AV or interactive media [which make it easier for video web crawlers to find], and always respond to comments."
She also suggests that authors syndicate their blogs for RSS feeds, something that's easily done through most blogging services. By setting up an RSS feed with good searchable keywords, you can allow news aggregators and other people with RSS readers to learn about your blog and even publish your RSS feed on other sites.
"Many professionals use Google Search or a similar data aggregator to send them URLs automatically that match their keywords," said Lepionka. "This means that someone who asked Google to email them anything it finds on the web about, say, 'physics textbooks' would automatically receive your blog entries in their inboxes."
RSS feeds also allow you to publish your blog on a range of venues. For example, Sheila Curran Bernard uses them to stay current with AmazonConnect, a free program from Amazon through which authors can set up profiles and post messages on their book pages. "Rather than create new content for Amazon, I send the RSS feed from each of the blogger sites to its related Amazon Connect account," she said. "The blogs also feed to the books' Facebook product pages and my own Facebook page. This is not complicated to do, and the feed can be either manual or automatic. So I post an entry in one place - on the blog - and it shows up in a range of places."
Despite such tech-enabled conveniences, maintaining a popular blog still involves a certain amount of persistence. Ask Kevin Patton, who passes out bookmarks with his blog URLs printed on them to student and professor groups and asks people to sign up for his blogs when they request resources on his web sites. "I learned in my previous work in the circus, then in nonprofits, that you have to blow your own horn to get folks to know who you are," said Patton. "If you expect folks who can benefit from what you have to offer to come looking for you without them having any idea who you are, what you have to offer, and how to contact you, then you won't have much business."
Mark McGroarty is a freelance writer based in Winona, Minnesota.
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Online textbook company goes live, publishing texts, securing authors
By Kim Seidel
Flat World Knowledge (FWK), an online textbook publishing company, is "off and running," said Eric Frank, co-founder with Jeff Shelstad.
In late January FWK went live, exposing a catalog of forthcoming books to the world. In the past few weeks, Flat World published the first editions of five books, and another five first editions will be published over the next three weeks.
"We have 22 books in the pipeline at various stages of development," said Frank, who co-created the company in February 2007. "Ten of those titles will publish this spring for fall 2009 (or summer) adoption. All of our books are currently in the fields of business and economics, from the earliest introductory courses like Introduction to Business or Principles of Economics to MBA courses in sustainability."
FWK recently closed an $8.2 million round of venture capital financing, Frank said. The biggest priorities in using those funds is to escalate the pace of book signing and development, and expand the publishing program from just business and economics to the "Foundation 25," what FWK refers to as the 25 largest enrolled courses in the college curriculum.
"We are doing this because if one wants to really make an impact on the problem of textbook affordability, and to build a better publishing model and platform for the future, then we believe one should go where the students are, plain and simple," Frank said. "So, we are actively looking to sign great authors across the curriculum as we speak."
FWK is still in private beta mode, so no data on what authors have been earning will be available until this fall when the first major wave of actual adoptions begins, Frank said.
"Author compensation is a critical issue for us and our authors," he said. "It is counterintuitive at first for people to think that an open textbook model should be good for authors, but we think it is great for authors, as do our first 50 authors on those 22 books, many of whom have successful textbooks at other publishers."
FWK authors earn 20 percent of all income generated around their open textbook, whether that income is generated by soft cover sales, audio book sales, or sales of digital study aids. "We pay one flat royalty rate of 20 percent on all sales, in all channels, anywhere in the world," Frank said.
"Without authors, we would cease to exist. What matters a lot in ensuring great customer experiences is the quality of people we choose to work with, the standards they hold themselves to, and the strength of the relationships that we have with them."
FWK had 20 professors testing books in the fall 2008, and 30 additional professors testing this spring. "We are now hitting the market to promote broadly," he said. "Things are heating up out there. We picked up a lot of new adoptions in just the past few weeks, and are tracking hundreds of adoptions for fall 2009."
Last fall, TAA interviewed John Gallaugher, who had 40 percent of his textbook at FWK and the material was already being used by faculty worldwide. Since then, he has two more chapters of Information Systems: A Manager's Guide to Harnessing Technology, up and three more chapters will be posted before the end of the year. That will put him at three-quarters done on the book.
"Feedback has been very positive," said Gallaugher, an associate professor of Information Systems at Carroll School of Management, Boston College, Chestnut Hill, Mass. "It's so nice to get a 'shout out' every few days from another faculty member who's adopted the material. And several students have run across the work and shared it with their faculty members too. As an author, this is incredibly motivating."
Another author, Karen Collins, chose to work with FWK to reach out to as many students and instructors as possible. An associate professor of accounting at Lehigh University in Bethlehem, Pa. Collins wrote Exploring Business to have a positive impact on the way students are introduced to business. "All students taking a class, regardless of their ability to purchase a textbook, will have access to the book online," Collins said. "This will give students from all economic situations a fair chance to succeed in their course. It also will give instructors the ability to teach a class in which every student has a book."
Talya Bauer was contacted by several of the major traditional publishers about writing Organizational Behavior and Principal of Management textbooks, but it wasn't until FWK approached her that she was ready to commit to such a major undertaking. The Flat World model solves so many persistent faculty and student problems - the price and delivery choices for students, for example, said Bauer, a Cameron professor of management and editor of Journal of Management at Portland State University, Ore. "We see how hard our students work to get a college degree and being part of the solution instead of the problem was very attractive for us," she said.
For faculty, Bauer said, it's frustrating to be locked into the way books are organized and to be forced to adopt new editions before they're ready. "With Flat World, faculty get flexibility in ordering, adding, or deleting content from the book they create or they can use it as is," Bauer said. "And faculty members never have to adopt a new edition - it's up to them.
"Couple all of this with the opportunity to work with such seasoned published veterans in a start-up environment, a great team of faculty reviewers from around the country, managing editors, developmental editors, copy editors, graphic designers, and an openness officer, and it was too exciting of an opportunity for us to pass up. We are really proud of the final products."
As books are just now available for sale, the authors have not earned regular sales royalties yet. "Making money is nice, but the main thing is to create something that would get used and have an impact," Bauer said. "My co-authors and I believe that management really matters so the more people who are exposed to the ideas and core concepts, the better."
Collins' book was beta tested at about 10 schools this past year, which generated some money. She believes she and other authors have the opportunity to earn more through the FWK model than obtained with traditional publishers. The royalty rate of 20 percent of all revenues is higher than at other publishers. Plus, authors don't have to worry about used books and pirated copies coming in from outside the country, Collins said.
"Although some students will opt for the free online text only, many others will decide to purchase a low-cost print text and other student aids that generate revenue," Collins said. "Because of the appeal of the model to instructors, the number of students using the text will likely be higher than with a traditional publisher. This will generate a sizeable number of 'revenue generating' purchases."
Kim Seidel is a freelance writer based in Onalaska, Wis.
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CCC holding free online seminar on Google Settlement update
The Copyright Clearance Center will be holding a free one-hour online informational seminar on the The Authors Guild, AAP and Google Settlement on Tuesday, April 14, at 12 p.m. ET.
The seminar, "What Authors & Publishers Need to Know as May 5th Approaches," will help publishers, authors and literary agents understand their options as May 5th -- the date by which rightsholders affected by the class-action settlement have to decide whether to participate or opt-out -- approaches. The session features nationally renowned publishing copyright expert and attorney, Lois Wasoff. Wasoff is the past Chair of the Copyright Committee of the Association of American Publishers and the former Vice President and Corporate Counsel of Houghton Mifflin Company.
On June 11, 2009, a federal court will hold a fairness hearing to review the proposed settlement of lawsuits brought by U.S. authors and publishers against Google for its unauthorized scanning and use of in-copyright books as part of the Google Library Project.
Any author or publisher of a book published on or before January 5, 2009 may be a member of the Settlement Class under the proposed Settlement Agreement between authors, publishers and Google. Members of the Settlement Class must decide to opt-out or participate by May 5, 2009.
If you would like to learn more about the settlement visit http://www.googlebooksettlement.com/, a site dedicated to the topic and if you have any questions about this informational seminar, please email education@copyright.com or call +1 978 646 2436.
To register, click here
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TAA Gift Memberships
TAA thanks Paul Krieger for giving a gift membership to Jim Doyle. Welcome Jim!
You can give a TAA Gift Membership for only $15.
Providing a gift membership to a family member, friend, student or colleague is a great way to assist them with their writing and show your support for TAA's mission.
Learn more
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Accessibility Update: Amazon's Kindle kindles controversy
by Robert Martinengo
In February, when Amazon announced that the new version of their Kindle ebook reader would include the ability to verbalize text through synthetic speech, there was a ripple of interest in the disability community. Although the device did not include design elements that would have made it fully usable by people who are blind or have visual impairments, it was still seen as a step towards greater accessibility for the print-disabled.
Soon after the product was released, the Authors Guild made public their objections to this feature being included without the express permission of the rights holders. The Guild expressed concern that the Kindle was now capable of audio output, which could infringe on audio rights that may have been sold to another party. Even though the speech output is relatively crude, the Guild noted that the technology has improved considerably and is expected to do so. In response, Amazon announced that they would update the Kindle firmware to allow the text-to-speech feature to be enabled or disabled on a title-by-title basis.
This caused great consternation among groups that advocate for the rights of the disabled. They saw the Authors Guild actions, and Amazon's subsequent reaction, as undercutting what had become to be seen as a breakthrough for equal access. These groups, seizing the moment, formed the Reading Rights Coalition and staged an actual protest outside the offices o f the Authors Guild. The Guild responded with a statement indicating they were sympathetic to the plight of the disabled but would not change their basic stance on the Kindle.
The potential for the Kindle, and other ebook readers already on the market and in development, to serve as textbook delivery platforms has not been lost on bloggers and other commentators. It may only be a few years before devices with larger, full color screens capable of faithfully rendering educational content are commonplace. It remains to be seen if accessibility for disabled students, which continues to grow in importance as an issue for publishers to consider, will be a priority for these new devices. It may be that the current tussle over text-to-speech sets the tone for the next generation of digital devices.
Robert Martinengo is Publisher Services Manager for the Alternative Media Access Center (AMAC)
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TAA thanks Contributing, Sustaining Members
TAA thanks Contributing Members Paul Siegel and Andrew Tanenbaum, and Sustaining Member Stephen E. Gillen.
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Self-publishing with reputable, peer-reviewed online publishers
TAA recently asked Mary Ellen Lepionka, Founder of Atlantic Path Publishing, and the author of articles and books on higher education writing and publishing, to share her recommendations for textbook and academic authors seeking to self-publish their works with reputable, and even peer-reviewed online publishers. Her recommendations are based on her research so far on self-publishing for the next edition of her book, Writing and Developing Your College Textbook:
- Most larger institutions of higher learning now have academic portals on which their faculties can develop online courses or course materials, often managed through course management software. Ownership and any remuneration for these publishing efforts vary; i.e., many schools claim copyright and all proceeds from any instructional materials created while the professor is their employee. Entrepreneurs forming their own independent online publishing "house" can get around this by making the institution a business partner and later spinning off the enterprise when they leave. Utilium did this, but I notice that the site now is non-commercial and does not generate income. It's free to instructors and students. Instructors create course packs and integrate open source materials from other sources, such as EBSCO journal articles and papers in MIT and Harvard archives or databases. Limited peer review is offered, but it would be easy enough for the author to solicit more through online social media reviewing services, such as Content Connections. This publishing model is an alternative to the custom publishing operations of the commercial houses.
- There are independent online publishers who have a traditional model for textbook acquisition, except that they do not pay advances. They review textbook proposals, decide what to publish, and cover all costs of publishing. They publish and market the textbooks online and pay author royalties. Students can read the books for free online or rent them at low cost for a period of time, or they can buy the textbooks, chapters, and/or supplements as PDF downloads or as audio books at greatly reduced rates compared to the big brick and mortar houses. Thus, in this business model the publisher pays royalties out of students' micro payments for low-cost alternatives to traditional textbooks. Flat World Knowledge (another TAA sponsor) is an example of this kind of publishing. It's not strictly self-publishing, but it is an alternative to working with the big players, who, however, increasingly compete in this market.
- There are independent online publishers who specialize in academic books or "serious nonfiction" and publish paperbacks and e-books. They pay royalties but not advances and authors must share the costs of publication. This is called co-publishing. The publisher gets revenue from book sales and pays the author comparatively high royalties of 10 to 40 percent of retail. The publishers will publish almost anything for which there could be any demand, including manuscripts on highly specialized or niche subjects--even conference papers and festschrifts. This is a publishing channel for professors with point-of-view books and non-mainstream approaches to course instruction. Universal Publishers (another TAA sponsor) is an example of this model also publishes dissertations.
- Some independent academic and textbook publishers of self-published works do not charge the author for production and printing, but publish in exchange for distribution rights. BrownWalker Press is an example (www.brownwalker.com). They pay royalties on retail sales and the author does not have to assign copyright. The independents all publish under their own imprints, but some will publish under the author's ISBN if the author has established himself or herself as being in the business of publishing.
- Becoming a publisher (registered as a business) is the most arduous and costly way of self-publishing, but it is a perfect fit for some authors. That's another whole topic and I will be writing more about it. There are also many online open source places to publish professionally in particular fields and as a college instructor, including even free software to develop and run a course or academic portal from your own web site, and I'll have more on this soon.
- IUniverse and Lulu (also past TAA sponsors) are vanity or subsidy presses for print distribution of self-published books. They are not textbook publishers or academic publishers per se, do not offer peer review, and will publish anything given to them. The author pays all the costs of publishing, publicizing, marketing, and distributing the book. These costs are made bearable through print-on-demand, in which the book can be printed off from an electronic file one at a time as it is ordered. The per-unit cost is nevertheless higher than even the pricing of most short-run presses. Comparatively few copies get sold. Most bookstores and libraries as a rule will not stock books self-published through vanity presses. But this alternative, too, is just right for some authors.
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TAA 2008 Teleconference Series
TAA members can now listen to recordings from TAA's 2008 Teleconference Series. The playback options have been enhanced to enable members to rewind, fast-forward and pause the recordings in addition to stop and play. The recordings can also now be downloaded and listened to on a computer or Mp3 player.
These recordings are for members-only. Only TAA members have permission to download TAA Teleconference recordings. Recordings may not be copied, shared with, or distributed to non-members.
Listen to or download the recordings:
Learn more about these teleconferences at http://www.taaonline.net/TAATeleconferences/schedule.html
Don't have your member username and password? Email Kim Pawlak
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