Member Spotlight: Siddhartha (Sid) Dastidar
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?
- 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.
- Do consider self-publishing, unless it contradicts (1). But, there is a lot of grunt work and details involved here; be prepared for that.
- 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!
