Convention
Articles/News
info from the convention

• Maintain good relationship with your editor
• It's broke, let's fix it
• How to obtain permission, use the public domain
• 10 tips for successful marketing
• Online on-demand publishing service offers publishing alternatives
• Marketing your book
• Author input needed to create effective accessible texts
• What to do when your publisher is sold
• Wakefield: U.S. behind other nations regarding textbook research
• Tax tips for authors
• Google Book Search explained
• The secrets of a prolific author
• TAA ED Hull has some 'pun' with convention attendees
• Sullivan receives TAA President's Award
• Pynn receives TAA's Mike Keedy Award
• Seidick receives TAA's Norma Hood Award
• Create a collaboration agreement with your co-author
• Quotable Quotes
• Time management tips
• Tips for successful authoring

Maintain good relationship with your editor

If you develop a good business and personal relationship with your editor, you can get a better feel for how they can provide you with support, said Marilyn "Winkie" Fordney, the author of insurance billing and medical assisting books.

"Find out where the person came from and whether they have been in business for a long time," she said. "Find out about their personal life. Do they have children? If they do, you'll know that if sometimes they are unavailable, it might be because their children are sick. When you visit with them, bring toys for their kids. This shows that you remembered about their children."

Other ways to a build a relationship with your editor, said Fordney:

• Compliment them when they've done something that was helpful to you. "They probably don't get complimented very often," she said. "If you compliment them, they will be more willing to help you again."

• Gift them gifts for their birthday and Christmas. "Don't give them something of too little or too much value," she said. "Find out what they like or bring them a gift that is unique to your community."

• Invest in the stock of the company that is publishing your book. "That way, you get inside information on how the company is doing." she said.

• Document communications with your editor. If disagreements over what was discussed come up, you have documentation to back you up, she said.

• If you complain, then give them a suggestion or a solution.

• Share materials relevant to your book with your editor. "When I come across newspaper articles about a new technology I want to use in my book, I send a copy of them to my editor," she said.

• Visit and take photos at your publisher's book display. "I e-mail the pictures to them as attachments," she said. "My editors often place them on the bulletin board outside their office."

• Tell your editor about any ideas you have about new editions.

• Ask your editor to acknowledge receipt of phone calls and e-mails.

• Copy the vital members of your production team on any emails to your editor to keep them all in the loop.

If you ever get angry at your editor and feel like retorting back, let some time pass before you do, said Fordney. "Write e-mail messages and then don't send them," she said. "Once you've cooled off, rewrite them in a more positive light."

When she gets upset, she said, she thinks of the end goal: "The goal is to get the book out. Remain professional and maintain the attitude that you are going to get there and get there in a positive way.

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It's broke, let's fix it

The educational literature regarding textbook adoptions doesn't focus on the process, but on the failure of it - the plethora of badly written, inaccurate textbooks -- said Christopher Stream, assistant professor of Public Administration at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, designated as principal investigator by TAA for a potential grant to study state adoption policies and practices for textbooks.

"I am more interested in the process," he said. "We don't write books intending to provide inaccurate, boring and poorly written textbooks."

The textbook adoption process has become the battleground for social conflicts in states and communities, said Stream. "On the one side is the Texas model (the religious right; ideas determine social condition) and on the other side is the California model (the liberal left; must be sensitive to all conditions)," he said. "Learning is secondary to the process. Effectiveness is not on the list." A part of the puzzle, said Stream, is linking textbooks to effectiveness. Currently, books are reviewed by unskilled and untrained reviewers. Also, he said, the textbook given to teachers through the textbook adoption process isn't the one they would use, yet they are accountable if children don't learn. "There's also censorship that goes on among publishers of K-12 texts," said Stream. "They water down the book even further than required to ensure that they don't offend anyone and lose the adoption."

What is the motivation? he asks. Money. "I think it's a myth that Texas and California control textbook adoptions," said Stream. "Textbook supply is controlled by four mega publishers. It's a $4.3 billion industry. It's big money, big industry."

The result, he said: powerful political interests whose censorship influences content; powerful publisher market domination, which stifles competition and innovation; and dull, boring, ineffective texts.

Stream said two options for fixing the current textbook adoption process are to decentralize it and return control to districts and schools, and to offer more customized textbook options based on what schools want (something that is already being done in some areas).

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How to obtain permission, use the public domain

Copyrighted work can be used even if not fair use or under another statutory limitation if you get permission, said Barbara Waxer, co-author of Internet Surf and Turf: The Essential Guide to Copyright, Fair Use, and Finding Media. How do you get permission? Write a letter or send an e-mail to the copyright holder, she said: "The alternative is to receive a letter asking you to cease and desist using the copyright holder's work. If you receive such a letter you need to take it seriously."

Barbara Waxer

Look for the copyright holder's terms of use -- what you need to do exactly to obtain permission to use their content, said Waxer. (You might have to search for this on their website, since where it is placed is not standard. Look under "Terms of Use," "About Us," "Information," etc.)

If the work is in the public domain or is a fair use situation, you can use it, she said. "There are four factors to determining fair use: 1) the purpose and character of the use; 2) the nature of the copyrighted work; 3) the amount and substantiality of the portion used in relation to the copyrighted work as a whole; 4) the effect of the use on the market or the potential market for the copyrighted work." If it is not in the public domain or a situation of fair use, said Waxer, you need to seek permission to use the work.

She offers the following help in locating open access (flexible copyright licenses) and public domain material:

Open access:

• Creative Commons: http://creativecommons.org
• Stockxchange: http://sxc.hu
• openphoto.net
• morguefile.com
• stockvault.net
• ourmedia.org
• bigphoto.com
• imageafter.com
• pdphoto.org
• flickr.com
• freefoto.com
• photorogue.com

Public domain sites:

• Library of Congress: loc.gov
• Internet Archive: internetarchive.org
• NASA and NASA-related

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10 tips for successful marketing

"When authors invest the dedicated time and effort to produce a textbook, it's important that they do it with a goal that it will be adopted and read and that it will provoke learning," said Robert Christopherson, author of the bestselling introductory geography textbook, Elemental Geosystems. "This requires thought throughout the creation process toward our involvement in marketing and how the post-production/sales period will progress," he said. "Marketing and sales are areas of publisher responsibility for sure, and I respect these editorial channels of authority, however I have learned that the marketing process works best with proactive, aggressive, and consistent effort." Christopherson shares the following ten marketing tips and strategies:

Robert W. Christopherson, Professor Emeritus of Geography at American River College in Sacramento, and author of three best-selling physical geography texts.

1) Treat authoring as a business -- create text-specific letterhead and business cards. "The cards are quite effective in adopter contacts, with students, and to have available at your publisher's booth at annual meetings," he said. "Develop a representative icon for your text that carries over to your card and letterhead."

2) Set up a post office box for those readers that use snail mail. Since 1995, said Christopherson, all his texts have included his e-mail address, along with a P.O. Box with his name salutation, at the end of the Preface. At the beginning of the term and around finals, he receives anywhere from a few e-mails to six to 10 per week. "The feedback I receive is so valuable that the work input is easily justified," he said. "I respond to each one, in earnest, and usually get a surprised and pleased response, e.g., 'I never expected an author to actually write me back.' In my working copy of the finished text and for my preparation file for the next edition, I mark up the text with comments. These e-mails provide valuable error and clarification points. After two years, when I sit down to begin a revision on a three-year cycle, I have this ready-made resource already in hand from hundreds of 'conversations.' As a marketing asset, I think that all these contacts and replies develop strength in the connective tissue that supports your textbooks in the market."

3) Be available at your publisher's booth at professional meetings. "Make sure your editor and marketing director have all the information for upcoming meetings," he said. "Offer involvement in preparing ad copy for the conference programs. Help with the booth. Usually some local sales rep is stuck with packing up the booth on the last day, the word is out among the sales reps that I help out - which gives me a feeling of full-cycle involvement."

4) Offer to proofread sales manual copy, both print and e-catalogues. "Only authors know the buzz words, correct vernacular, vocabulary, and sales features of their own textbook," he said. "Build on the copy the publisher provides."

5) Do the first several editions of your ancillaries. "This will give the ancillaries your style and approach," he said. "These editions then become the guides for later editions that will be done by work-for-hire third parties. I know the authors of my ancillaries and am available to them for questions and collaboration."

6) Become active in the instructional CD-ROM process. "My publisher invested in an instructional CD-ROM to accompany each of my texts," he said. "By doing all the design and preparing the functional layout, as well as the storyboards for the animations, I was able to get the inclusion of many features not on other CDs. Remember, this is usually personal work 'on spec' with compensation derived from increased text sales stimulated by the CD asset."

7) Become involved in the creation of an interactive website for your text. View Christopherson's at www.prenhall.com/christopherson

8) Make sure that sales reps, marketing personnel, editors and adopters, know that you are available for feedback, questions, and criticism. "Be available to speak, when asked, at national sales meetings that most publishers hold twice a year," he said. "We need to teach editors, sales reps, and managers about our books and disciplines."

9) Know your market and your competition, and write the best student-friendly text possible - there's nothing like a great book that sells itself. "Yes, I used the word 'sells,' for this is appropriate to say in our important academic work!" he said.

10) Go to TAA meetings and participate in the TAA newsletter and website. "No one knows better the isolation that the creative process requires more than other authors," he said. "The network and supportive web among authors is powerful."

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Online on-demand publishing service offers publishing alternative

When Matthew Basham, program director main contact and lead instructor for the St. Petersburg College-CISCO Regional Networking Academy, posted his Learning by Doing: CISCO Network Administrator lab manual as a free download (or $15 for a printed version) on Lulu.com, an online on-demand publishing service, he was hoping to provide students with a less expensive version of the manual than what his high-priced traditional publisher had been offering.

To his surprise, within the first two months, 20 million electronic copies of the book had been downloaded. "The book is a constantly evolving project," he said. Because the manual is electronic, he is able to update it frequently, rather than on a traditional publisher's edition cycle.

While Basham's experience is not typical, authors are finding on-demand publishing services like Lulu.com to be a great way to sell a book that may not be marketable to a traditional publisher, or to maintain more control over their work. "Lulu.com enables people with intellectual property that has a small audience or an uncertain value, a way to publish their work at no cost," says Gart Davis, president of Lulu.com

Lulu.com is a free publishing service that allows authors to upload their intellectual property into any format (e.g., Word, PDF) along with a digital photo of the book's cover. "Our service supports 70 different combinations of trim size and bind style (as well as CDs and DVDs)," said Davis. "Authors can take their digital copy all the way through the process that will render it into press-ready digital book."

Eighty percent of the sales of all books posted on Lulu.com go to the author. Authors can charge whatever they want for their book. Basham generates additional revenue from his book by selling ad space. Authors retain copyright, and are free to publish elsewhere.

"Authors have the right to publish the book, take it down, revise it and price it at what they prefer," said Davis. For more information about Lulu.com, visit http://www.lulu.com.

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Marketing your book

Marketing your book is about author-publisher cooperation, says mathematics author Michael Sullivan. He shares what authors should do regarding marketing before the writing begins, as the writing progresses, before publication, after publication and when preparing for the second edition:

Mike Sullivan TAA Treasurer and Former TAA President

Before the writing begins:

• Establish a reputation. Request a day-long meeting with the publisher. Meet the marketing people, the sales director and the designer, art/illustrator, etc. Attend professional meetings and give presentations that include academic research and classroom strategies.
• Get known by editors. Visit publisher exhibits and introduce yourself. Have a secure knowledge of existing books. Indicate an interest in writing a book, assisting with a revision, and/or coauthoring. Agree to review or assist in the writing process.

As the writing progresses:

• Continue to attend professional meetings and build your reputation.
• Give presentations that relate to the particular point of view of your book.
• Class test the book in your classes; ask a friend to do the same.

Before publication:

• Request a day-long meeting with the publisher. Meeting the marketing people and the sales directors and others who will work on your book.
• Ask to attend the national sales meeting. Meet and greet the sales and marketing people. Don't be pushy and don't ask to present. "Have drinks with them; exchange your business card and email address; and let them know that you are available to them," he said.
• Get to know the marketing people. Offer to help them understand your product. Offer to proofread marketing materials.

After publication:

• Work the publisher's booth at the book exhibits of professional meetings. "It's important to be there," he said. "Many times questions will come up that only you can answer. Offer to help set up the exhibit, and stay on the last day and help break down the booth." Tactfully assist in selling situations with your book: "Don't oversell your stuff. I wait for questions to come to me rather than saying things I think the person wants to hear." When it comes to sales, though, he said, you have to be good at it: "You don't want to screw up a sale."
• Give sales reps your e-mail address and encourage them to contact you.
• Offer to go on sales calls and/or give talks at schools that might adopt your book.

Preparing for the next edition:

• Ask the editor for diary reviews from users. Diary reviews are first semester usage reviews by users of the book. The publisher slices the binding off the book, creates a three-hole punch, and puts it in a binder with blank pages in between each text page. Diary reviews offer quick, right after teaching reactions to the text; are good for reprint errors; and can be used to begin a file for a revision.
• Ask your editor for reviews from users of competing texts. If your book didn't win the adoption, this helps you find out why. It's important for revision purposes, and to establish a relationship with the school so that you may get the adoption next time (with the hope that once you get it you will keep it).

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Author input needed to create effective accessible texts

When visually disabled or dyslexic students comes to class the first day and announce that they cannot use the print materials assigned to the class, those students must jump through hurdles to get the materials in a format accessible to him or her, said Robert Martinengo, co-founder of The Center for Accessible Publishing.

If the student is lucky, his or her institution will have adaptive software, such as Kurzweil 3000 from Kurzweil Educational Systems (www.kurzweiledu.com), that allows a student to have their textbook electronically "read" out loud to him or her. If the student's institution doesn't have such software, the institution may contact the publisher to request electronic files, or contact a nonprofit such as Recording for the Blind & Dyslexic, which may have the book in audio format..

Making texts accessible to disabled students is a process now being done without author participation, said Martinengo, and he believes that should change: "Authors should be involved in the process of converting text to accessible formats because it's their material - they are the experts."

When a print textbook is converted into an accessible format, much of what makes it a great textbook for visual readers is lost - the visual context that the author creates for the text to help non-disabled readers understand the material are not being translated to the print disabled reader, he says. The situation would be improved if the author were involved in the process of creating an electronic file to be used by disabled students.

Currently, schools are responsible for providing accessible materials for students, said Martinengo, but he would like publishers to share that responsibility. Electronic files, he said, make it possible for publishers to provide accessible versions of their textbooks to an institution at the same time as printed textbooks - reducing the discrimination faced by disabled students.

Through The Center for Accessible Publishing, he hopes to not only make it easier for disabled students to access textbooks, but to encourage authors to become involved in the process so that accessible texts are not just bad versions of print textbooks. Any author interested in participating in a pilot project to create fully accessible textbooks should contact Robert Martinengo at rmartinengo@gmail.com.

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What to do when your publisher Is sold

Mathematics author Mike Sullivan shares this advice for what to do when the publishing company that currently publishes your book gets sold to another publisher:

• Look at the new publisher's list for books that might compete with your own.

• Learn who the people are that are now involved in the hierarchy of the company and get to know them.

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Wakefield: U.S. behind other nations regarding textbook research

Other nations, led by Norway and Australia, are much more active than the United States in the area of textbook research, said TAA President John Wakefield, in a report at the TAA Convention in Orlando regarding his participation in the First International Seminar on Textbooks in Santiago, Chile April 19-21, where he learned the status of textbook development around the world.

"The U.S. needs to look at textbooks as objects of research as well as tools for educators," he said. "There are three reasons for the dichotomy between research and teaching in the United States: 1) If you do research, you aren't working on textbooks; 2) textbook authorship is not supported by government grants (this is not the case in other countries -- Norwegian and Australian governments assist authors in the publication of texts); 3) and there is an assumption in the U.S. that the textbook evaluation process is sufficient to improve textbooks."

That assumption, he said, is not accurate: "The textbook adoption process is not scientific. Each participant in the process has a different agenda. Some decisions made during the process are political, period."

Textbook evaluations and textbook reports are the closest the U.S. comes to textbook research, said Wakefield. A study by the U.S. Department of Education regarding textbook usage, called What Happens in Classrooms? Instructional Practices in Elementary and Secondary Schools, 1994-95, a survey of 3,994 K-12 teachers, published in 1999, he said, found that on average, 74 percent of teachers reported that students use a textbook at least once a week. It also found that usage becomes extensive during the upper elementary years, declines during middle school, and increases during high school, and that textbook use for homework reflects textbook use in class.

"Why are textbooks effective at the grade school and high school level but not a the middle school level?" asked Wakefield. "What leads to texts not being effective at that level? At the middle school level, children are at the exploratory stage, and learning needs to be more experiential. Because of this, textbooks need to be redesigned for the middle school level. We need to rethink what children are doing at that age to make our textbooks more successful. Challenges still exist for teachers and textbook authors at the middle school level and in raising achievement overall in U.S. history."

Another U.S. Department of Education study, The Nation's Report Card: U.S. History 2001, a survey of 29,000 students in grades 4, 8 and 12 taking national tests on U.S. History, published in 2002, found that frequent usage of current textbooks appears to help most students learn the basics of U.S. history, both at the elementary and high school level. "This is positive news for textbook authors," says Wakefield.

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Tax tips for authors

Textbook authors are subject to self-employment taxes on their authoring income, said Paul Rosenzweig, a CPA and consultant with Royalty Review Service LLC. "All advances, all grants and all royalties received are reportable on tax returns," he says.

Royalty income should get reported on Schedule C or C-EZ, not on Schedule E, said Rosenzweig. "Although Schedule E has a royalties received line, author royalties don't belong there," he said. "The royalties income line on Schedule E is for reporting oil, gas & coal production royalties, inherited royalties, and for retired authors who are no longer writing but still collecting royalties on past books."

Rosenzweig said that once authors are self-employed and filing a Schedule C, numerous opportunities open up. One of those is deducting a percentage of expenses for the business use of their home, he said (emphasizing that authors should be managing their affairs with a tax professional): "Authors can depreciate a percentage of their living space that is used for their office. They can also deduct a percentage of their homeowner's insurance, utilities, phone, repairs and maintenance, gardening, homeowner dues, etc., equal to the percentage of their office space. The larger the area of your office space, the greater the deduction. Move your office into the largest spare room in your home. You can use two rooms as offices (for example, one for working, and one for storage)."

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Google Book Search explained

Roland Lange, strategic partner development manager of Google Book Search

Roland Lange, strategic partner development manager of Google Book Search, told an audience of text and academic authors at the TAA Convention in Orlando July 8, that Google's goal with its Print Library Project is comprehensiveness and protecting copyright.

Copyrighted books, he said, are protected by a "snippet view" system that the company created that shows images of three "torn out" sections of a page (rip marks appear at the top and bottom of these snippets, with a few lines of text visible in between). These "snippets" are chosen at random by Google's search system, he said, making it impossible for a user to piece the entire work together.

"One publisher told me that trying to put together a book in Google's snippet view is like trying to put a book together that's been through a shredder," said Lange.

Google has agreements with five research libraries to digitize all the books on their shelves, including those with copyrights. The plan to digitize copyrighted books without prior consent of the copyright holder has authors, publishers and authoring groups claiming copyright infringement. The Authors Guild filed a class action lawsuit against Google claiming copyright infringement at the expense of individual writers. The Association of American Publishers filed a suit against Google on behalf of five major publishers over the company's plans to digitally copy and distribute copyrighted works without permission of the copyright holders.

Lange asserts that Google's digitization of copyrighted books falls under fair use, and as such is not a violation of copyright. He also argued that the principles employed Google Book Search are the same "snippet use" fair use principles that underly its website search practices. Any copyright holder of a book digitized by Google , said, can ask that it be removed from the program. Copyright holders say that they shouldn't have to ask that it be removed -- Google should have to ask permission to digitize it.

Lange provided TAA Convention attendees with a detailed look at its Google Book Search and Google Print Library Projects. With Google Book Search, he said, publishers and individual authors who hold the copyright to their works, can upload their books on Google Book Search using Google's Book Search Partner Program. Lange said Google Book Search is a free sales and marketing tool that is especially useful for books that are out of print or hard to find. "Google Book Search suggests books to people who didn't even know they were looking for those books," he said. Lange shared the process Google uses to place books on Google Book Search:

1) Publisher provides a PDF of the physical copy of the books to Google.

2) Google digitizes the books, indexes the content (making it searchable), and hosts the data on its secure servers.

3) When a user searches Google Book Search, for "gardening books" for example, Google's search feature looks for the word "gardening" in its database of books and offers up results.

4) Depending on what the publisher has allowed Google to provide, the user may see a snippet view of the work, a full page view, a sample pages view, a table of contents, and/or an index.

5) The user can then click on a "buy this book" button to purchase the book directly from the publisher.

"Google gets no cut of book sales through Google Book Search," said Lange. At this time, Google generates no revenue from its Google Book Search and Print Library Projects, he said.

The publisher may add or remove a book from Google's server at any time with no cost, he said.

Digitized books are protected by Google's high level of security, said Lange: "Google Book Search offers limited browsing; only 20 percent of the book is viewable; images are low-resolution; and the print, copy and save features are disabled."

Lange also shared some future projects regarding its Google Book Search program that will benefit authors:

• Paid online access. A user will be able to buy or rent access to an online version of a textbook. The publisher/author can set the price and rental terms (one week, one month, or permanent access).

• Print on demand. Publishers/authors can offer their books through Google Book Search as print on demand.

• Advertising revenue. Publishers/authors can allow Google to place ads on their Book Search pages and receive a royalty on each click.

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The secrets of a prolific author

Marilyn "Winkie" Fordney

If you want to become a more successful and productive author, said Marilyn "Winkie" Fordney, the author of insurance billing and medical assisting books, choose a topic that is a first in its field or with little or no competition. Using this strategy and others, Fordney has published more than 50 books, many of which are the leading textbooks in her field. "I submitted my first manuscript to four different publishers and all wanted it," she said. "Because of this it gave me a little edge in the contract negotiation. First I hired a contract attorney from Capital Records who taught me from the beginning the do's and don't's of negotiating." Fordney shares these additional strategies for becoming a more prolific author:

• Know your target audience and explain in detail some possible selling and marketing features to your publisher that are not addressed in the current competition.

• Offer something unique. Present a different methodology or a book that fills a certain niche (for example, a short course book that is used for one semester). "If the publisher already has several titles for the same course, do cross promotion with established titles, target your book to different market levels, or develop a different conceptual, thematic or organizational approach," she said.

• Work with a co-author. "This helps you reduce writing time so you can produce more books in a shorter timeframe," she said.

• Write a book that concentrates on one aspect of a more general course book. For example, Fordney wrote Administrative Medical Assisting, Medical Transcription Techniques and Procedures, and Dictionary for Insurance, Billing, Coding, and Compliance, all topics covered in less detail in Insurance Handbook for the Medical Office.

• Aim for a high quality textbook. Thoroughly research technical material and develop the best visuals (easily understood figures, concise tables, relevant examples, screened boxes for important material and icons). "The most lacking thing in books is visuals," she said. "I use arrows with color highlights to point out what appears in a visual I'm referring to in the text."

• Assist the publisher in creating ancillary products (test bank, CD tutorial, internet website, instructor's resource manual, workbook).

• Pay attention to reviewer's comments. "Write down the 'little gems' that give you 'aha' moments," she said. Research all questions posed by reviewers because some comments on technical data may be erroneous due to the fact that the reviewer may be located in a specific region and it is handled differently in that locale."

• Get organized. File technical material (journal, newspaper and magazine articles) and set a daily routine for writing when you are freshest. "When you hear something pertinent to your topic, jump on it now - don't procrastinate," she said.

• Write a comprehensive and complete proposal. Include a detailed table of contents, a list of competitors' strengths and weaknesses and why your book is different. Attach your curriculum vitae.

• Cultivate your editors and sales reps. "I go to every annual meeting, e.g. medical assisting, and meet with my publishers," she said. "I take photos of my sales reps and editors at the meeting and send them to my publisher. They often post them on the bulletin board outside their office. This gives you a good rapport with them. That relationship with sales reps helps you keep your finger on the pulse of what's happening in classrooms."

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TAA ED Hull has some 'pun' with convention attendees

Carrying on the decade-old tradition of former TAA Executive Director Ron Pynn, who opened each year's TAA Awards Banquet with his own brand of humor, current TAA Executive Director Richard Hull entertained the audience at this year's Awards Banquet with an announcement of his fatal weakness: he loves to pun. Hull had some pun using attendees' names. Read his entire address here.

Have a weakness for puns? Share them with fellow TAA members: kmpawlak@centurytel.net

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Sullivan receives TAA President's Award

Past-President Michael Sullivan

Past-President Michael Sullivan received the 2006 President's Award at the TAA Awards Banquet, held the Friday night of the TAA Convention in Orlando, Florida. The President's Award is presented by the current TAA president to someone who in his or her view has great potential for service in TAA.

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Pynn receives TAA's Mike Keedy Award

Former TAA Executive Director, Ron Pynn

Former Executive Director Ron Pynn, now TAA Council secretary, received the 2006 Mike Keedy Award at the TAA Awards Banquet, held the Friday night of the TAA Convention in Orlando, Florida. The Mike Keedy Award is named after the founder of TAA and is the highest award the organization can give a member for their work on behalf of authors. Pynn was a founding member of TAA and served as its executive director for 10 years, from 1995 to 2005.

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Seidick receives TAA's Norma Hood Award

TAA Webmaster Tammy Seidick

TAA Webmaster Tammy Seidick received the 2006 Norma Hood Award at the TAA Awards Banquet, held the first night of the TAA Convention in Orlando, Florida. The Norma Hood Award is given in recognition of the efforts of a member who, because he or she is away from the limelight, doesn't often receive the recognition he or she deserves. Seidick went above and beyond in assisting TAA Executive Director Richard Hull in creating an online archive and index of all past issue's of the association's member newsletter, The Academic Author.

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Create a collaboration agreement with your co-author

Steve Gillen

Collaborating with a co-author on producing a textbook can have many benefits, said Steve Gillen, a publishing attorney with Greenebaum Doll & McDonald PLLC. "It can diffuse the burden of a large project; allow you to draw on each other's strengths; create a broader appeal for the work; and give you access to a sounding board for ideas," he said. "On the other hand, the most bitter troubles and disputes occur between co-authors. Of all disputes, those between collaborators are the worstSúthey almost never have a happy ending." One source of trouble is in the way the Copyright Act deals with co-authorship, said Gillen. "The default positions stated in the Copyright Act with regard to co-authorship are often not those that you would provide yourself," he said. They include:

• Both (or all) authors have an equal share in ownership, even if you did 90 percent of the work and your co-author did 10 percent. In the absence of a contrary, express agreement, you will share ownership and profits 50/50.
• Each author has an undivided interest in the entire work (i.e., you don't each own what you wrote, you each co-own the entire work) and can exploit that work on a non-exclusive basis without the permission of the co-author.
• To the extent that the co-author does place the work, he or she has to share those profits with his or her co-author(s).

"These problems between co-authors are exacerbated by the provisions in the contract prepared by the publisher," he said. "The publisher is not looking out for you. They are not concerned with resolving issues between co-authors and will sometimes use a conflict to their benefit." The best way to address these potential problems, said Gillen, is to work these things out in advance with a separate collaboration agreement between co-authors.

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Quotable Quotes

"Being a prolific author is not about writing lots of books, it's about keeping books in print."
— Michael Sullivan, author of more than 87 mathematics textbooks, 15 of which are currently in print

"There is nothing in a contract that is not negotiable."
— Steve Gillen, Publishing Attorney, Greenebaum Doll & McDonald PLLC

"I lecture around the country from time to time on author-publisher contracts. On occasion, if I want to emphasize the point about how one-sided such contracts are, I will employ an assistant to blindfold me, hand me a black marking pen, and request a standard author-publisher contract from the audience. With some flair, then run the marking pen from left to right across page one, dramatically turn to page two to do the same, and repeat the process on page three. I then rip off the blindfold, return the contract and declare that I have significantly improved the contract assuming I did not cross out the line that gives the author 10 free copies of his or her own book."
— Michael Lennie, Authoring Attorney and Agent, Lennie Literary & Authors' Attorneys

"Even after 30 years in the business, I cannot predict with certainty what publishers will say yes to. Ask for everything and see what flies. You don't get what you don't ask for." — Steve Gillen, Publishing Attorney, Greenebaum Doll & McDonald PLLC

"A well-written book does not increase your chance of adoptions, but it does help in gaining adoptions from subsequent editions." Ann McHoes, co-author of Understanding Operating Systems, winner of a 2006 McGuffey Award

"When you know you have something completely new, trust your intuition and vision. Don't get intimidated by apparent obstacles in your path. Don't be afraid to go to new places." — Barbara Waxer, author of Internet Surf and Turf - Revealed: The Essential Guide to Copyright, Fair Use, Finding Media, winner of a 2006 Texty Award

"Stay out of the university office for writing that you are doing for royalty income." — Paul Rosenzweig, Consultant, CPA, Royalty Review, LLC

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Time management tips

Karen Timberlake, author of Basic Chemistry, winner of a 2006 Texty Award: "I get up early and work weekends. I also take my work with me everywhere I go and work on it while waiting at the dentist, etc."

Ann McHoes, co-author of Understanding Operating Systems, winner of a 2006 McGuffey Award: "Write every day. Pick up a pen and get into the habit of writing. Learn about when you are the most effective writer. I do my editing in the morning when I feel the freshest and my writing in the afternoon when I feel the most creative."

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Tips for successful authoring

Karen Timberlake, author of Basic Chemistry, winner of a 2006 Texty Award shares some tips for successful authoring of a text:

• Listen to what your students say and don't say. Find out what they respond to. Use this information to improve your textbook.
• Stay flexible. There are always going to be issues with your editor or artist, etc. You will usually get most of what you want in the end.
• Pat yourself on the back. Reward your efforts.
• Don't try to turn in a perfect manuscript. It's more important to stay on schedule.

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