TAA audio conferences connect you to experts discussing a variety of topics. These 60-90 minute sessions are designed especially for busy textbook and academic authors.

Participate in live, interactive sessions for an opportunity to ask questions, or download the sessions as podcasts (mp3) and listen at a time that is convenient for you.

How it Works
As a TAA member, you can participate in as many audio conferences as you would like, for free. Registrants receive an email confirmation containing call-in instructions and handouts.

Not a member? Join today for as little as $15, or register for one audio conference for $69.

September 14, 2010 (2:30 p.m. EST)

Motivational Techniques: 'Professional Nag' Uses Creative and Innovative Tricks, Tools, & Techniques to Motivate Authors
Presented by Rachel Z. Cornell, Accountability and Productivity Consultant, "Professional Nag" (http://pronagger.com)

Members (Free)

Non-Members Pay Now ($69)

Does this sound like you? You're stuck. You've lost your focus. You have too many time commitments and end up getting very little done on an important project. You need to self-motivate.

If so, learn how a "professional nag" can help you increase your writing productivity and keep you moving forward with your project by providing you with daily, direct support.

You'll also hear from an author whose use of a professional nag has proved successful, as well as professional motivational tips that you can use to keep your projects on track.

Topics that will be covered:

Why you might want to hire a professional nag
How it works
How much it costs
What authors should consider when hiring a professional nag
Advice on choosing the right person for you

"Professional Nag" Rachel Z. Cornell

Before going head long into a nagging, speaking and writing career, Rachel (Zamek) Cornell challenged the odds by becoming the first legally blind visual artist to receive a Masters Degree in Fine Arts from the University of Michigan. After graduation, she enjoyed a prolific career as a professional mixed media artist. Cornell has shown her work throughout the United States, as well as participated in such prestigious shows as the International Assemblage Artist Exhibition in Berlin, Germany. Cornell argues that it is not a disability or a “problem” that will cripple and limit your life. It is how you think about them that creates limitations and insurmountable barriers. She asks her clients and audiences to question their thinking, to see if is working for them, and if not, how that can flip a thought suit their goals. This is not positive thinking. Cornell will be the first to tell you that there’s power in pitching a fit, and positive thinking often leads people down an unhealthy rabbit hole.

September 23, 2010 (10 a.m. EST)

The 10 Worst Legal Mistakes a Textbook or Academic Author Can Make
Presented by Zick Rubin, Publishing Lawyer and Textbook Author, The Law Office of Zick Rubin (www.zickrubin.com)

Members (Free)

Non-Members Pay Now ($69)

Publishing lawyer Zick Rubin will provide a countdown of the 10 worst legal mistakes that a textbook or academic author can make. He will alert you to the legal traps that can be found in a range of areas, including provisions in publishing contracts, collaboration agreements, and copyright and permission issues.

Zick Rubin

Zick Rubin is an intellectual property attorney based in Newton, MA who devotes his practice to publishing, copyright, trademark, and higher education law. His clients include authors of textbooks, scholarly works, and trade books in virtually every academic discipline. He drafts and negotiates publishing, licensing, and collaboration agreements, advises educational, scientific, and cultural organizations on intellectual property issues, devises strategies for copyright and trademark protection, and helps his clients to resolve intellectual property disputes. A former psychology professor at Harvard and Brandeis Universities, Zick is himself a textbook and trade book author. Before establishing The Law Office of Zick Rubin in 2003, Zick was Of Counsel at the Boston firms of Palmer & Dodge and Hill & Barlow. He has been listed as a Massachusetts Super Lawyer every year since 2004 and was listed in Boston Magazine as one of Boston's five best intellectual property lawyers. He received a B.A. from Yale University (where he was Managing Editor of the Yale Daily News), a PhD in social psychology from the University of Michigan, and a J.D. from Harvard Law School, where he was an editor of the Harvard Law Review. He is a long-time member of TAA and has served on the TAA Council.

Date: TBD

An Academic's Introduction to Trade Book Authorship
Presented by Elsa Peterson, a freelance editor with 25 years of experience in the college textbook industry; Paula Caligiuri, Professor, Human Resource Management, Rutgers University, and author of Managing the Global Workforce

(Sign-up to come, after date is determined.)

Authoring a nonfiction paperback for general readers (in industry parlance, a trade book) is an adventure into the unknown for many academics, even those who have been prolific in academic publishing. Decisions to be made include: Which facets of my academic expertise will interest general audiences? How should I adapt my writing style in authoring a trade book? What should my manuscript and book proposal look like? Do I need an agent, and how do I find one? How will I negotiate a contract with a publisher? What will I do to publicize my book? Rutgers Professor Paula Caligiuri and freelance editor Elsa Peterson, who recently worked together on Paula's first trade book, will discuss these and other questions.

Elsa Peterson

Elsa Peterson has been doing editorial work, primarily for the college textbook industry, since 1984. Although her academic background is in music — she holds a B.A. with highest honors from the University of California at Riverside and an M.A. from Case Western Reserve University — her versatile editing talents have led her into a wide variety of disciplines ranging from the arts and humanities to psychology, business and management, human physiology and nutrition, and foreign language. She was a senior developmental editor for psychology with McGraw-Hill Higher Education and has freelanced for virtually every leading textbook publisher in the U.S. In addition to manuscript development, she is experience in permissions editing, picture research, and writing content for textbook ancillaries. Based in Norwalk, CT, Elsa offers a discount to TAA members who use her editing services.

Paula Caligiuri

Paula Caligiuri Professor in the Human Resource Management Department at Rutgers University where she has directed the Center for HR Strategy since 2001. She has been recognized as one of the most prolific authors in the field of international business for her work in global careers, international human resource management, and global leadership development. As a career expert, Paula has written Get a Job, Not a Life (FT Press, 2010). For human resource management professionals she has also written (with Steven Poelmans) Harmonizing Work, Family, and Personal Life (Cambridge Press, 2008) and (with Dave Lepak and Jaime Bonache) Managing the Global Workforce (Wiley, 2010). She has covered career-related topics for CNN and has hosted a pilot for a television show, CareerWATCH. Paula holds a Ph.D. from Penn State University in industrial and organizational psychology.

Details on upcoming 2011 Audio Conferences coming soon.