TAA member Siddhartha (Sid) Dastidar is an Associate Professor (Adjunct) at Columbia University. As a textbook author in business, economics, and finance, his most recent publication is Capital Markets and Investments: Essential Insights and Concepts for Professionals (1st ed.).

What are you currently working on?
I am currently working on getting the word out regarding my recently published textbook, designed to accompany introductory/intermediate finance classes that discuss the financial markets.

Share a recent accomplishment.
Getting my book out in finished form in August. I underestimated the work that publishers usually have teams to do – index, typesetting, proofing, getting endorsements/reviews, cover design, basic distribution strategy. Doing all this really took away from the focus/ pleasure of finishing the book.

What is your favorite textbook writing tip or strategy?

1. Don’t forget why you are writing and what it means to you. During the process, you will have choices, and this will help you decide which way to go.
2. Do consider self-publishing, unless it contradicts (1). But, there is a lot of grunt work and details involved here; be prepared for that.
3. I first started by creating a draft Table of Contents, with some sense of how long each chapter was going to be. I then started working on multiple chapters (each chapter was a separate word document) to break the monotony. For most chapters, the last 30% will take up 80% of your time, so having 70% of the manuscript done quickly really gives you a lot of energy and self-belief.

What is your best TAA experience so far?
The staff! They are a pleasure to interact with…truly awesome!

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