Can I help you in any way? Publishing strategies (part 2)

“Hello, thank you for visiting. Can I help you in any way?” If you’ve browsed our TAA website, you’ve likely seen those words in the chat box that appears on the screen. We’re often asked by visitors if we’re “real”. Then those who realize that we are, and that we are there to help, ask questions that you may have as well.

In this series of “Can I help you in any way?” posts, we’re highlighting some of the questions people have asked through the TAA Live Chat feature of our site and the responses we have for those questions.

In the first post on questions about publishing strategies, we focused specifically on the process of finding a publisher and submitting a book proposal. In this second post on the subject, we’ll explore other related questions receive through the chat.

Can I help you in any way? Publishing strategies (part 2) Read More

2/13 TAA Webinar: Creative Scheduling For Those Who Have “All of the Time in the World” and “No Time At All”

Whether you feel over-scheduled or are desperate for a little structure in your day, a more intentional approach to managing time can be a writer’s secret weapon. However, it can seem impossible to add time into an already packed schedule, or restrict flexibility when that feels integral to the writing process. Join us Wednesday, February 13, 2-3 p.m. ET for the TAA webinar, Creative Scheduling For Those Who Have “All of the Time in the World” and “No Time At All”, where presenter Katy Peplin, a coach and editor at Thrive PhD, will provide a collection of tools to think about time, how you spend it, and how that does or does not align with your life writ large.

2/13 TAA Webinar: Creative Scheduling For Those Who Have “All of the Time in the World” and “No Time At All” Read More

Copyright basics: Another layer of rules for scholars

In a recent TAA webinar, Stephen E. Gillen, a lawyer with more than 40 years of experience in and around the publishing business, and author of the book, Guide to Rights Clearance and Permissions in Scholarly, Educational, and Trade Publishing, shared critical information about copyright law, rights clearance, and permissions.

During the session, Gillen introduced an additional layer of rules for scholars, specifically focused on academic integrity.

Copyright basics: Another layer of rules for scholars Read More

Most useful textbook and academic posts of the week: January 25, 2019

It’s hard to believe that we have reached the end of the last full week of January already! Hopefully this month has been filled with new beginnings, fresh resolve toward you goals, and advancements in your academic writing endeavors, but there’s a lot of 2019 still to come!

For those of you in the final semester (or deep in the throws) of writing your thesis or dissertation, Pat Thomson’s advice to “yodelayeehoo” may be useful this week – by the way, it’s also great advice at multiple stages of your writing career. For those looking at what else the rest of this year and beyond has in store, the rest of this week’s collection brings insight to that question. First, we celebrate continued advancements in open access. Then we explore tips for managing research, ways to build a social network in the field, and the future of scholarly communication. To close, we look forward by looking back to 1923 and the possibilities that await for the previously copyrighted works newly released into public domain.

As you head into the days ahead, remember to “Write without Fear; Edit without Mercy”. And, if you’re one who likes inspiring reminders like this in physical form, stickers are available for use on your computer, smartphone, or office door through the TAA store. Happy Writing!

Most useful textbook and academic posts of the week: January 25, 2019 Read More

Reflections on seeking a publisher 5: On giving sole consideration

Some publishers ask for sole consideration of your proposal. In my process, I have mostly given sole consideration to the publishers to whom I have been proposing.  This has been largely a product of my approach: as discussed in previous posts, I feel that it’s best to write a distinct proposal for each publisher, to better match their list. Because that’s a pretty big effort, I don’t send out a lot of proposals at once. In August, I sent out one proposal that never earned any response, so I suppose that I wasn’t quite offering sole consideration on the two proposals I sent after that. Because it takes time to move from one proposal version to the next, and because the responses I did receive were generally quick (on 3 out of 5, I received a response within a day or two), I was basically offering sole consideration: as soon as I got a positive response, I focused my energies on responding to that one publisher, and not one making a proposal for another.

Reflections on seeking a publisher 5: On giving sole consideration Read More

Can I help you in any way? Publishing strategies (part 1)

“Hello, thank you for visiting. Can I help you in any way?” If you’ve browsed our TAA website, you’ve likely seen those words in the chat box that appears on the screen. We’re often asked by visitors if we’re “real”. Then those who realize that we are, and that we are there to help, ask questions that you may have as well.  

In this series of “Can I help you in any way?” posts, we’re highlighting some of the questions people have asked through the TAA Live Chat feature of our site and the responses we have for those questions. In this post, we’re focused on questions about publishing strategies.  

Can I help you in any way? Publishing strategies (part 1) Read More