With membership in TAA, you are not alone. You become part of a diverse community of textbook and academic authors with similar interests and goals. We are pleased to announce the addition of 46 new TAA members who joined us in August 2018.
8 Biggest secrets to writing a winning manuscript
In her 2018 Textbook & Academic Authoring Conference presentation, “Discover How to Deliver What Editors and Publishers Need: Demystifying the Publishing Process,” Dr. Kathleen King shared key strategies for planning the work and working the plan toward successful publication.
As a professor, award-winning author, and editor, King shared her successful experience – having published more than 30 books and 150+ articles – summarized in the following eight biggest secrets to writing a winning manuscript.
The most useful textbook & academic posts of the week: August 31, 2018
“Half of my life is an act of revision.” Wise words from John Irving for all writers and ones that thread through our collection of posts this week.
We begin with discussions of how to manage multiple writing projects, interpret data visualizations, and use diary methods in qualitative research. We then share practical advice on successful publishing in journals, informed consent, fellowships, and balancing a PhD with a family. Closing out our list is the prediction that textbooks are here to stay, along with new resources including scholarly podcasts, open and interoperable annotation, YouTube videos, and open science tools.
Whether you are revising a manuscript or your writing craft this week, we hope that you will find value in some of the resources below. Happy writing!
Why textbook authors should be using critical instruction pedagogy
You are seated at a table covered with a thousand scrambled puzzle pieces. Your task is to assemble the pieces. But there is a catch. You are not shown a picture of the assembled puzzle. You are not given any instructions that might help you to assemble the pieces into a critically understandable coherent whole. How would you proceed?
Royalties: Past, present, and future
What does the word “royalty” mean to you as an author? In their presentation, “Royalties: Past, Present, and Future” at the 31stAnnual Textbook & Academic Authoring Conference, royalty auditor Juli Saitz of Ankura Consulting Group and veteran publishing insider Sean Wakely of FlatWorld discussed the history and anticipated future of textbook author royalties.
In a traditional author-publisher relationship, the publisher is providing financial capital and the author is providing human capital for the production of a book. The negotiation of royalty on the sale of the book is used to determine how the profit from such sale is divided. Through the royalty model, there is a shared risk between author and publisher and consequently a shared reward for successful titles.
6 Takeaways from the TAA Writing Gym
Over the last six weeks, TAA Writing Gym members have had the opportunity to participate in six writing classes designed to help them with their writing, including creating goals, identifying their audience, getting their research organized, writing clearly, proofing and revising their work, and getting their work completed. Here is a takeaway from each of the six classes.