Whether you are interested in learning how to use social media to promote your writing, enhancing your approach to visuals, creating instructional media on a budget, writing and developing a college textbook, or creating ancillary materials and companion websites, TAA’s spring webinar series for textbook and academic authors has you covered. Join us as various industry experts share their expertise on academic and textbook writing topics. Sign-up early to reserve your spot! Not a TAA member? Learn more about member benefits and join today.

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Six Strategies for Using Social Media to Promote Your Writing

Date: Wednesday, January 25, 3-4 p.m. ET

You can spend (and waste!) a lot of time on blogs and social media. Be strategic and use these tools to complement your academic writing, textbook authoring, and related consulting services.

In this one-hour webinar, writer and blogger Janet Salmons will share six ways you can use blogs and social media, including: developing credibility, building a network, reaching new readers, sharing resources, encouraging textbook adoption, and disseminating findings outside of academia. She will help you evaluate whether you should start your own blog, page, or group, or contribute as a guest.

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TAA Members receive a $25 discount to Salmons and Dr. Helen Kara’s  6-week course, “Create Your Publication Strategy”, which will be held February 13 to March 31, 2017.  Click here for details.

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Tips and Techniques for Enhancing Your Approach to Visuals

Date: Wednesday, February 22, 1-2 p.m. ET

Too often incorporating images isn’t part of our initial project planning, if it is ever part of the planning at all. In this one-hour webinar, author and illustrator Bethann Garramon Merkle will share tips and hands-on techniques for enhancing your approach to visuals by using illustrations in publications and presentations. Specifically, you’ll learn about planning ahead for working with an illustrator, some tips about addressing copyrights and licenses, and ideas for helping your illustrator navigate your institutions procurement procedures. And, you’ll enjoy hands-on practice with illustration shortcuts used by pros. Don’t worry! No previous drawing experience is necessary. These techniques will help you get started, and will help you transform a physical drawing into a digital one.

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Author Q&A: Writing and Developing Your College Textbook

Date: Wednesday, March 22, 3-4 p.m. ET

Mary Ellen Lepionka, Sean Wakely and Stephen Gillen, authors of Writing and Developing Your College Textbook will share insights into the higher education publishing industry, textbook contract negotiation, and textbook development, in this one-hour webinar. Learn the two-three key trends in the higher education publishing industry about which an author or prospective author should know; what leverage authors have to negotiate changes in a publisher’s standard agreement; and various aspects of textbook development, including writing to your audience, developing an authorial voice, the importance of learning objectives; and much more.

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Screencasting for Academic Authors: How to Create Instructional Media on a Budget

Date: Thursday, April 6, 1-2 p.m. ET

With the rise of e-books, online learning, and mobile technology, the demand for instructional media is exploding. Textbook authors, academic authors, and instructors are being called upon to design and deliver instruction in multimedia genres like screencasts and videos. Fortunately, authors and teachers today can produce effective screencast videos without going to film school or hiring expensive professional help. This webinar, presented by educator and editor Michael Greer, will walk through a sample screencast project to show how you can get started today, even if you have no experience using video editing software. The webinar will demonstrate a simple step-by-step process you can use to create an instructional screencast and offer additional resources for authors who want to learn more about designing and producing educational media. In short, this webinar offers everything you wanted to know about screencasting but were afraid to ask!

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Texts Plus: Ancillary Materials & Companion Sites

Date: Monday, April 24, 3-4 p.m. ET

You have completed the textbook manuscript, now what? Some publishers expect you to develop ancillary materials for companion sites they host. If not, you might want to create your own.

In this one-hour webinar, textbook writer Janet Salmons will share and critique examples of companion websites from major publishers and individual authors. She will evaluate the types of materials posted, including media, instructional or student resources.

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Marketing? You’re Kidding Me! I’m an Academic! Marketing that Matters (Lessons from a Puffin)

Two-part webinar:
Monday, May 1, 2-3 p.m. ET & Monday, May 8, 2-3 p.m. ET

Imagine having people read your writing! Imagine having others interested in your work and talking about it! Imagine your efforts receiving recognition! Guess what?! You have to market yourself and your work and you don’t have to spend a lot of money or hire a PR firm. In this focused and practical web-based workshop by Dr. Meggin McIntosh, Professor Emerita, University of Nevada, Reno, now known as The PhD of Productivity®, you’ll learn: Ways to create awareness of and interest in your work (with the right people); strategies to obtain your MWR (Most Wanted Response); tools to use to strengthen your relationship with potential readers; and means to gain “mindshare” in the very crowded space that is your reader’s brain. You may not realize that the puffin has much to teach you as an academic marketer, but metaphorically, this bird does! Expect to learn and laugh in this 2-part, content-rich webinar. Then start integrating what you learn and watch the difference it makes.

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