How-to: Video creation for textbook authors and instructors

Videos are increasingly integral to the learning process. As a textbook author, you can increase the value of your book for both students and instructors by creating and publishing videos linked to your content. And as an instructor, videos you create to supplement your course can help students review and retain material outside the classroom.

You can get started making your own videos with nothing more than a modern computer. Using functionality that’s built into both Windows 10 and macOS, you can create a screen capture video and narrate along with it.

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2018 Textbook award-winning insight (Part 4): What they wish they had known before they started, writing advice

Recently we reached out to winners of the 2017 TAA Textbook Awards and asked them to answer some questions about their textbook writing. The first installment in this four-part series focused on why they decided to write their textbook, and how they got started. The second installment focused on what they do to boost their confidence as a writer, how they fit writing time into their schedule, and what software they use. The third installment focused on which pedagogical elements in their textbook they are most proud of, and what involvement they have had in marketing their book.

This fourth, and final, installment in the four-part series focuses on what they wish they had known before they started, and advice for other authors.

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The most useful textbook & academic posts of the week: May 25, 2018

This week’s collection of articles from around the web begins with advice and perspectives on research cases, grant applications, using figures in your papers, and developing a strategic publication plan for your research. We then explore changes and challenges in academia including a look at the modern day scholar and mixed methods research. Finally, we see industry changes in library subscriptions, the school publishing industry, open access, and textbook distribution models.

Truman Capote once said, “That isn’t writing at all, it’s typing.” Whether you are writing or typing, continue to find ways to get your ideas onto paper this week.

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8 conditions affecting royalty accuracy

In his recent webinar, “Royalty Disputes: Legal Strategies in Pursuit of Information and Payments Due”, David Slarskey, a trial lawyer with Slarskey LLC, defined royalty accuracy as the “accurate reporting, accurate calculation, and accurate recovery of royalties due to authors.”

Slarskey proceeded to identify the following eight conditions as some of the dynamics at play that can create friction in the process of achieving royalty accuracy in publishing relationships.

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2018 TAA Council election results announced

TAA members Lisa Daniels and John Russo have been elected to the TAA Council, the association’s governing board. They will serve three-year terms beginning July 1, 2018.

Daniels is a Professor of Economics at Washington College. She specializes in development in Africa, where she worked for ten years, beginning as a Peace-Corps volunteer. She has also testified at the World Trade Organization on behalf of developing countries and was the director of five national surveys in Africa.

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Member Spotlight: Margaret Thompson Reece

TAA member Margaret Thompson Reece is an educator scientist, and academic author in the health sciences, human anatomy & physiology, and neuroscience writing disciplines.

Her most recent publication is Craft Your Plan for Learning Physiology, 30-Day Challenge Workbook, 2017. She has 3 published books, 23 original research articles in peer reviewed journals, and is a co-author of chapters in 5 books on medical science.

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