Call for proposals for 2010 conference
The 2010 TAA Conference on Text and Academic Authoring will be held in Minneapolis, MN, June 24-26 at the Ramada Mall of America.
The theme of the 2010 Conference is "Recent Trends in Textbook and Academic Publishing."
The deadline for the call for proposals is January 4, 2010.
Learn more: click here
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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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TAA Gift Memberships
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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Greetings!
We are working to ensure that we have updated contact information on all of our members.
If your mailing address, email address or phone number has changed recently, please fill out a Member Update Form online or contact TAA headquarters at (727) 563-0020 or TextandAcademicAuthors@TAAonline.net
If you have any questions or need assistance, please don't hesitate to contact me directly by phone at (608) 687-3106 or email kim.pawlak@taaonline.net
Sincerely,
Kim
Kim Pawlak
Associate Executive Director
kim.pawlak@taaonline.net
(608) 687-3106
(507) 459-1363 cell
www.TAAonline.net
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NOTABLE AUTHOR:
Jerry Wilson
Curiosity remains a constant for physical science author
by David Cole
Jerry Wilson:
Physical science author
Though he has been retired from teaching for 17 years, Jerry Wilson continues to educate students through his textbooks. Wilson authored or co-authored nine textbooks during his academic career, three of which are still in print.
In June 2009 TAA honored Wilson with a McGuffey Longevity Award for the 12th edition of An Introduction to Physical Science, published by Cengage Learning. (The book was originally published by Ohio University in 1969 and then picked up by D.C. Heath, which published the first national edition in 1971.)
"When I graduated from high school, I wanted to go to college but couldn't afford it so I went into the Army," said Wilson. "When I got out in 1959, I was accepted at Ohio University. I started in December and paid $120 for my first semester's tuition. After that I got a full-tuition scholarship, which I really needed. I never had to pay a cent again. My employer General Electric paid for my masters, and I had a teaching assistant scholarship for my doctorate."
Read more: click here
Members-only. Need password and username to login
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King awarded $750 TAA Publication Grant
Dr. Kathleen P. King, a professor of education at Fordham University's Graduate School of Education in New York City, has been awarded a $750 TAA Publication Grant for expenses incurred in researching her book, The Professor's Guide to Taming Technology: Leveraging Digital Media, Web 2.0 and More for Learning, which will be published by Information Age Publishing, Inc. in July 2010.
"This grant is not only a surprise and tremendous monetary help, it is extremely validating as well," said King. "I am very grateful on each account. In the past, some of my books have been based on funded research or were less intensive in the editing process. However, this book has turned into a large project because we have a unique, very valuable contribution to the literature as our goal. From all of the TAA members, thank you for your forward thinking in providing a potential source of funding for us to pursue special projects that we might not be able to otherwise."
The entire grant will be used to defray a good part of the costs King personally incurred in the book's development, including research assistant searches, transcripts and copyediting assistance.
Read more: click here
Apply for a TAA Publication Grant: click here
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TAA NOTES
TAA: Google settlement good for out-of-print text authors
TAA supports the amended settlement agreement drafted by the Authors Guild, the Association of American Publishers and Google. Click for more
Register with Authors Registry to receive reprographic payments
TAA recently partnered with the Authors Registry (www.authorsregistry.org) to help facilitate the distribution of title-specific reprographic payments to its author-members. Click for more
TAA thanks Contributing Member Walter Savitch.
TAA Ethics Guidelines revised
TAA's Ethics Guidelines have been revised to better reflect the academic, non-textbook side of the organization.
View the Revised Ethics Guidelines:
Click here
Recordings of 2009 TAA Fall Teleconferences
Recordings of 2009 TAA Fall Teleconferences are now on the TAA website:
- "Generating & Refining Research Ideas, Parts One & Two"
- "Textbook Supplements: The Big Three" "Textbook Supplements: Electronic Products"
- "How Authors Can Navigate Successfully Through Copyright-Related Issues" "Making the Most of the Author-Editor Relationship: Insights From An Author & Editor"
- "Using Social Media to Promote Your Writing & Your Personal Brand"
- "Learn About Sisters of the Academy Institute (SOTA): Scholarly & Professional Development for Black Women"
Recordings are free for members. Non-members pay $69 for each recording.
Listen to or download teleconference recordings: click here
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INDUSTRY NEWS
Amended settlement agreement granted preliminary approval
The Amended Google Settlement Agreement, filed by Google, the Association of American Publishers and the Authors Guild on November 13, was granted preliminary approval by U.S. District Court Judge Denny Chin on November 19. Click for more
Copyright law expert reviews Amended Google Settlement
The Copyright Clearance Center (CCC) interviewed intellectual property attorney Lois Wasoff on November 18, five days after Google, the Association of American Publishers and the Authors Guild filed an Amended Google Settlement Agreement. Click for more
In-depth review of Google Amended Settlement Agreement
The Copyright Clearance Center invites TAA members to join them Thursday, December 10 at 12 noon EST for a free, one-hour webinar with intellectual property attorney Lois Wasoff, who will provide an in-depth review of the proposed revisions in the Amended Google Settlement Agreement. She will highlight the most noteworthy changes and explain their potential impact on rightsholders and their works as well as outline key deadlines. For more information or to register: Click here
Textbook database improves access to students with print-related disabilities
The Association of American Publishers (AAP) launched a new comprehensive national online database to make it easier and quicker for students with print-related disabilities, such as blindness or dyslexia, to obtain the alternative textbooks they need for their college courses.
Click for more
Authors royalties may be affected by Cengage suit against Houghton Mifflin
Stephen E. Gillen, an intellectual property attorney with Greenebaum Doll & McDonald, said that Cengage Learning's $20 million lawsuit against Houghton Mifflin Harcourt for losses it said it incurred from HMH's unauthorized international college textbooks sales could represent a potential $3 million in lost royalties to authors. Click for more
Cengage Learning files suit against Houghton Mifflin for improper foreign sales
Cengage Learning filed suit in U.S. District Court, Southern District of New York against Houghton Mifflin Harcourt (HMH), for $20 million in damages, claiming the company dramatically increased its sales of college textbooks to international resellers, particularly to those who were known to redistribute textbooks back into the U.S. illegally. Click for more
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TECH BIT:
Save your files to the cloud
Back in the good old days when backups were done on tapes, there was a lot of discussion of off-site backups. The idea was if your building burnt down, you'd still have a copy of the data you could use to recover your system.
Most people are lucky if they even have a backup, much less one that is off-site. But, when you think of disasters like the fires in California, floods in the Midwest, and hurricanes in the Southeast, there is a very real chance of you losing your primary computer.
And of course if your primary computer is a laptop, you could lose it (or have stolen) anywhere you take it. According to a Dell/Gartner study, Over 12,000 laptops are lost or go missing in U.S. airports each week, 70% of those returned to lost and found are never reclaimed.
So are you prepared if disaster destroys your primary computer (and perhaps where it lives)?
There is a new place to save your files, those in the "know" call it the cloud-aka the Internet.
There are a number of websites you can register with to save your files on their servers on the Internet, most with software that makes it as easy as dragging and dropping the files just like you would in Windows Explorer. Some even offer automatic backup programs. Some alternatives you might want to look at are:
The advantages of these services are their low cost, often free, and ease of use. Plus you have access to your files from anywhere in the world.
However, don't depend only on web backup for your critical data. Several of these services, failing to find a viable business model, have gone out of business, effectively deleting your data. I would still recommend a traditional backup to supplement the on-line backup. Between the two you stand a really good chance of recovering your important information.
I am a firm believer that you can't have enough backups. Even though I am pretty good about backups, there are still times when I've lost data (or downloaded programs) when something goes horribly wrong.
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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DISCLAIMER: TAA has not tested and neither endorses nor opposes any product or procedure recommended or referenced in any TAA publications, teleconferences, or workshops.
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