TAA Conference

How-to

May 9, 2008
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Why you might want to consider hiring a literary agent to help you negotiate your next textbook contract
Authoring Attorney and Literary Agent Michael Lennie, of Lennie Literary & Author's Attorneys, answers some questions about the advantages of hiring a literary agent to represent you when negotiating a textbook contract, including why you might want to consider hiring a literary agent, when is it appropriate to hire an agent, and how much it costs. Read the full article: Click here (members only)

Pros and cons of self-publishing: One self-publisher tells all
The two primary disadvantages of self-publishing are lack of marketing and serving as your own acquisitions editor, said Morris Rosenthal, author of Print-On-Demand Book Publishing: A New Approach to Printing and Marketing Books For Publishers and Self-Publishing Authors. "Publishing is a marketing business," he said. "Those who go into self-publishing don't want to believe that no one will know their book exists until they tell them about it. Marketing is a universal problem no matter what method you use to self-publish. If you don't do marketing, there's no reason to self-publish." Read the full article:
Click here (members only)

Share a How-to
Share your expertise with other TAA members by writing an article for TAA's 'How-To' section. Contact Associate Executive Director Kim Pawlak for details: kmpawlak@centurytel.net


Industry News

May 5, 2008
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Society for Scholarly Publishing to hold annual meeting May 28-30 
The Society for Scholarly Publishing (SSP) will be holding its 30th Annual Meeting, "Empires of the Mind: Inventing the Future of Scholarly Publishing", May 28-30 in Boston. The SSP Annual Meeting is an informative three-day event providing educational and networking opportunities for publishers, editors, librarians, scholars, printers, agents, wholesalers, booksellers, and other participants. Click for more

Scholarly publishing on the world wide web
"Working Papers", a graduate student publication of the University of Pennsylvania Department of Romance Languages, has a Q&A roundtable discussion entitled "Wikidemia? Scholarly Publishing on the World Wide Web" on its website. The Roundtable explores such questions as is online publishing a relevant vehicle for academic writing?; How will it affect the way we read, write and pursue our professional interests?; Will current publishing practices become obsolete, and if so, when can we expect to read the last words of offline print culture? Read more: Click here
(outside link)

Publishers file suit against Georgia State University for copyright infringement
A group of publishers filed suit in federal court in April to stop widespread copyright infringement at Georgia State University (GSU). The complaint, filed by Oxford University Press, Cambridge University Press and SAGE Publications and supported by the Association of American Publishers (AAP), charges that GSU officials are violating the law by systematically enabling professors to provide students with digital copies of copyrighted course readings published by the plaintiffs and numerous other publishers without those publishers' authorization. The lawsuit seeks injunctive relief to bring an end to such practices, but does not seek monetary damages. Read full article: Click here

Florida 'Textbook Affordability Bill' includes language regarding comp copy sales
Due in part to the efforts of TAA and its members, Florida's HB603 "Textbook Affordability Bill" has been amended by Representative Anitere Flores to include language regarding the sale of complimentary copies. Click for more

Amazon announces all POD books sold on site must use own POD house
As of April 1, online book seller Amazon is requiring small publishers to sign a contract agreeing to print all print-on-demand (POD) books sold on Amazon's site by Amazon's own POD house, BookSurge. The American Society of Journalists and Authors, the nation's trade association for freelance nonfiction writers, said in an April 4 press release that it is "disgusted" with Amazon's announcement. Click for more

GRANT NEWS >>
Click for info (members only)

View news about the Copyright Clearance Center and its Beyond the Book program: Click here


TAA Notes

May 5, 2008
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TAA Conference one-hour mentoring session winners announced
Michael Spiegler, Patricia Casey and Courtland Bovee are the winners of the early conference registration drawings for three one-hour mentoring sessions to be held at the 2008 TAA Conference at Harrah's in Las Vegas, June 19-21. To be entered into the drawing, you had to register for the conference by May 1. Click for more

TAA announces Council election results
Mathematics author Don Collins has been elected TAA vice president/president-elect. Collins will serve a two-year term as vice president beginning July 1 and succeed Paul Siegel as TAA president in 2010. Siegel, who is TAA's current vice president/president-elect, will succeed John Wakefield as TAA president on July 1. Paul Rosenzweig, who has served two terms on the TAA Council, has been elected TAA Treasurer. New TAA Council members are Tara Gray, Barbara Waxer, and Fred Kleiner. Read the full story: Click here 

TAA conducting royalty rate survey 
TAA is distributing a Royalty Rate Survey to its textbook author members to gather information that will provide them with a useful tool in negotiating new contracts and/or amending existing contracts. The deadline for receipt of surveys is June 1. TAA plans to announce the results at the 2008 TAA Conference in Las Vegas, June 19-21.
More info on the survey: Click here

Members: Fill out the survey online

Publisher offering member discount on textbook authoring reference books
Atlantic Path Publishing is offering TAA members 50 percent off Self-Publishing Textbooks and Instructional Materials, by Frank Silverman, 30 percent off Writing and Developing Your College Textbook, Second Edition, and 40 percent off Writing and Developing College Textbook Supplements, both by Mary Ellen Lepionka. Silverman's book regularly lists for $32.95, and Lepionka's books regularly list for $37.95 and $19.95. Learn more about these books or purchase one of these books: Click here Visit the Atlantic Path Publishing site: Click here

TAA unveils new Texty, McGuffey logos
TAA has created new logos for its Textbook Excellence Award and McGuffey Longevity Award. These logos can be used by all Texty and McGuffey winners, past and present. Please link your logos to http://www.taaonline.net/awards, or the website associated with the year that you won your award (scroll to the bottom of main awards page for the link). Silver stickers containing either the Texty or McGuffey logo can be ordered for $40 per 100. These stickers can be used on already printed textbooks taken to conferences or sent as complimentary copies. To order stickers, contact Janet Tucker at TAA headquarters at (727) 563-0020 or TextandAcademicAuthors@taaonline.net Download Texty and McGuffey logo images: Click here

Notable Author Profile: Bradley Fahlman
A well-known researcher and teacher in his field of chemistry, Bradley Fahlman believed it was "perfect timing" for a textbook on materials chemistry. This intriguing possibility for Fahlman evolved into his first textbook, Materials Chemistry. It was published by Springer in August 2007. Less than one year later, the textbook is going into a second printing. It's scheduled to be translated into Chinese and Russian in 2008 to 2009. Fahlman's Materials Chemistry is a 2008 recipient of a Textbook Excellence Award from TAA. Read the full profile: Click here

Listen to a recording of TAA Teleconference on contracts
Listen to a recording of the TAA Teleconference, "Don't Settle for a Publisher's Standard Contract: Terms You Can & Should Negotiate", moderated by Authoring Attorney Stephen Gillen: Click here

Listening to a recording of the TAA Teleconference, "Tips & Tricks for the Do-It-Yourself Indexer": Click here

View the 2008 TAA Teleconference Series Schedule

Listen to recording of past TAA Teleconferences
Listen to the recording of the March 6 TAA Teleconference, "Publish & Flourish: Become A Prolific Scholar"; the March 20 TAA Teleconference, "Royalty Q&A"; and the April 4 TAA Teleconference, "A Coach's Perspective on Finishing a Dissertation": Click here

2008 CONFERENCE NEWS:

View preliminary 2008 TAA Conference Schedule:
Click here

Deadline for reserving $99 per night room rate at Harrah's is May 19
The deadline for reserving a room at Harrah's at the special $99 conference rate is May 19, 2008. Book your room by calling 888-458-8471 and giving them the special group code, SHTEX8. The room block is filling up fast, so reserve your room as soon as possible.

Early TAA Conference registration deadline extended to May 15
TAA has decided to extend its early conference registration deadline to May 15 to allow people to continue to register for the 2008 TAA Conference at Harrah's June 19-21 at the low rate of $195 for members and $245 for non-members. This extension does not apply to the drawing for one-hour mentoring sessions with Michael Lennie, Steve Gillen or Tara Gray, so if you are interested in being entered into that drawing, you will need to register by May 1. Register online

Help promote the 2008 TAA Conference
Download and share this conference promotional flyer with your colleagues (at right)

Copyright Clearance Center Featured Conference Sponsor
The Copyright Clearance Center is sponsoring the 2008 TAA Conference at Harrah's in Las Vegas, June 19-21, at the $2,000 level. TAA thanks CCC for its generous support! Other conference sponsors include Lennie Literary & Authors Attorney, Jacobs deBrauwere LLP, TeachingPoint, W.H. Freeman, iUniverse, Pearson Education/Prentice Hall, Springer, Atlantic Path Publishing, Worth Publishers, Lulu.com, Cengage Learning, Houghton Mifflin, Universal Publishers, and ed matter. Visit sponsors' web sites: Click here

Register for the 2008 TAA Conference
Conference fees are $195 for members before May 15 ($245 after May 15), and $245 for non-members before May 15 ($295 after May 15). Non-members can join TAA prior to the conference for $30, and save $20 off their registration. Register using TAA's secure online registration form, or download a PDF and send by mail: Click here

TAA News Archive

Text and Academic Authors Association


TAA 20th Anniversary
Join TAA - Already a Member

Welcome from the TAA President


John Wakefield
TAA President

Welcome to the Text and Academic Authors Association (TAA) website. This year, TAA celebrates 20 years of assisting textbook and academic authors. TAA is the only authoring association devoted exclusively to serving those interested in developing and publishing educational materials, including textbooks, articles for academic journals and other publication outlets, software, videos, monographs, reference books, and multimedia CD-ROM disks.

TAA's mission is to enhance the quality of educational materials, to foster better appreciation of members' work within the academic environment, and to assist text and academic authors in such matters as taxes, copyright, and royalties.

With more than 1,200 members, many of whom have written dozens of textbooks and scores of scholarly articles, TAA provides a valuable mentoring network. Members can access that network by:

• Searching the archive of articles and columns on our website that are submitted by veteran authors about the writing process and the publishing business.

• Posting a question about publishing on our listserv, which typically generates several helpful responses within a few days.

• Contacting each other directly for advice on issues of mutual concern. Such personal relationships - with other authors, and with editors and indexers, as well as with attorneys and agents who represent authors - are especially nourished in person through attendance at our annual conferences.

If you are not already a member, I encourage you to join us. You can learn more about the benefits of membership by visiting our Join TAA page.

Please feel free to contact me for assistance at jwakefie@msn.com or TAA headquarters at (727) 563-0020 or TEXT@tampabay.rr.com

Sincerely,

John Wakefield
TAA President
Click for bio
President's Messages from The Academic Author



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