We’re thrilled to share that the 2025 TAA Conference on Textbook & Academic Authoring was a tremendous success — and it’s all thanks to our incredible attendees, speakers, sponsors, and staff who made this event truly special.

Held virtually June 9-10, this year’s conference brought together textbook and academic authors from across the country for two days of learning, connection, and inspiration. With 147 participants and a lineup of close to two dozen expert-led sessions, the event offered something valuable for every stage of the author journey — from first-time writers to seasoned scholars.

Highlights included:

• An engaging keynote from Dr. Gerald Friedland, Principal Scientist at Amazon AWS, and coauthor of Multimedia Computing, on the future of textbook publishing and its opportunities and challenges, especially around AI.
• Three interactive pre-conference workshops on academic writing, book proposals, and demystifying the publishing process.
• Three on-demand workshops on writing and a guided meditation before writing.
• Networking sessions that sparked new collaborations and shared experiences.
• The ever-popular mentoring sessions with seasoned professionals and industry experts held pre-meeting.

We’ve received overwhelmingly positive feedback from attendees, with many noting how much they appreciated the quality of the sessions, the professionalism of the event, and the opportunity to connect with fellow authors and industry professionals.

Top comments from attendees:

• ​”I loved the one-on-one mentoring, the opportunites to network and the very useful information from the conference. I am grateful to TAA for making this possible. In such a warm and supportive atmosphere, it is a pleasure to present and network with fellow writers.​”
• “As a first time attendee and someone who has only worked in Publishing and never as an author, I wanted to be a fly on the wall and learn what I could. The camaraderie and openness to discourse that I experienced through these sessions and conversations was inspiring and sobering.”
• ​”I was extremely happy with this experience. I was worried that it was completely virtual, but the conference was surprisingly good, well-organized, easy to navigate, very-well paced, with a variety of topics and excellent presenters. I look forward to attend​ing next year.​”

Winners of the closing session raffle included:

$100 American Express Gift Card – Cassandra Baker | $50 Best Buy Gift Card – Rebecca Campbell & Yun Shi | $25 Starbucks Gift Card – Jessica Burchett, Lisa Compton, Karen Turner, and Peggie Williamson | TAA Conference T-shirt – Renee Saris-Baglama | Guide to Making Time to Write print book – Heather Jenkins & Jessica Sarra

To everyone who contributed — whether by presenting, participating, or supporting behind the scenes — thank you. Your involvement helped make this one of our most successful conferences to date. Special thanks goes to Bronze Level sponsors Archstone Law, Top Hat and BMG, and Attendee Gift Box sponsor Chemeketa Press for donating pens.

We’re already looking ahead to the 2026 TAA Conference and can’t wait to build on this momentum. Stay tuned for more updates — and until then, keep writing, keep connecting, and thank you for being part of the TAA community.