I have had an awful cold since Monday. When I’m this sick I can barely function as a human—or at…
Busy TAA People: David Lucander to appear on Travel Channel’s ‘Mysteries at the Museum’ tonight at 9 pm ET
TAA member Dr. David Lucander, an assistant professor of Pluralism and Diversity in America at Rockland Community College, will appear on the television show, Mysteries at the Museum, Friday, October 16 at 9 p.m. on the Travel Channel. This will be a special episode about the most famous protest that never happened: the 1941 March on Washington. As the author of a recent book about this subject,
How to deconstruct and decipher your textbook royalty statement
Deciphering royalty statements to determine whether royalties being reported are accurate can be frustrating for both first time and veteran textbook authors. Royalty calculations should be relatively straightforward. That is, the contractually agreed-upon royalty rate for the Work multiplied by the earnings received by the publisher. However, add in escalation clauses, various rates for different sales categories or channels, co-authorship, packaged products, electronic materials, custom editions, abridgements, agreed-upon deductions, returns for reserves, specific definitions of earnings, multiple titles in various editions etc., and the calculation of royalties becomes much more complex.
Join us 10/15 for the TAA Webinar, ‘Expressing Yourself Clearly in (Academic) English’
Is English not your first language? When you submit an article to a peer-reviewed journal do the reviewers advise having the article professionally edited? Does the information you’re imparting get lost among the words or tangled in syntax? Join us Thursday, October 15 from 2-3 p.m. ET for the TAA Webinar, “Expressing Yourself Clearly in (Academic) English”, where Jane Mackay, owner/editor of Janemac Editing, and freelance writer and editor Amanda R. Smith, will share tips for polishing your prose and expressing yourself clearly, teach you how to recognize typical problems, and give you techniques for fixing them. Register
The most useful textbook & academic writing posts of the week: October 9, 2015
I think everyone needs to print this quote and tape it someplace clearly visible on his or her desk, computer, or writing space. Look at it every time you sit down to write. Quiet the voices of negativity and just write. You are capable of writing well, of writing that is worthy of others to read, you just have to believe it and shut down the voices that tell you otherwise! One of my favorite quotes, and one that fits perfectly here, was said by Muhammad Ali, “To be a great champion you must believe you are the best. If you’re not, pretend you are.” Believing in your abilities to write is half the hurdle. Once you believe that, getting words onto the page will become easier. Happy writing!
10 Self-publishing companies for your next textbook project
Self-publishing, not to be confused with vanity publishing, is now seen as a much more viable option when it comes to publishing a textbook. Self-publishing companies offer a wide range of services from manuscript editing to cover design and distribution. You, as the author, often have complete control over each stage of the design, publishing, and promotion process. Keeping all of this in mind, if you decide to self-publish instead of following the traditional route, these ten self-publishing companies are ones to explore and consider: