By Dr. Nolle Sterne
Q: Maybe it’s the new year, but I can’t seem to get going on my dissertation.
—Word Dawdler
A: Sounds like you’re dragging your dissertation manuscript in sorry tow behind you like an annoying younger brother. You’re probably doing the impossible already—on campus or online, like many other graduate students—juggling family, work, and school. Your academic struggles are intensified by the stresses of such multiple responsibilities and too often you’re slowed down to stop.
Between December 2025 and early January 2026, the Textbook & Academic Authors Association conducted a survey seeking authors’ experiences filing claims in the landmark Bartz v. Anthropic settlement. The majority of respondents 87% (52) said they were educational/textbook authors, 23% (14) said they were university press/academic authors, 8% (5) said they were trade authors, and 3% (2) were unsure which author type they were.
While a majority of respondents to the survey said they had already filed claims (31 of 60), almost the same number of respondents said they had not (29 of 60).
On December 22, 2025, the Textbook & Academic Authors Association (TAA) filed a motion to intervene in the Bartz v. Anthropic case, asking for an order to require curative notice and injunctive relief by Sage Publishing after the company sent a misleading email to its authors. In that email, Sage directed its authors to claim a specific percentage of the settlement and asserted that by not doing so, the authors could delay getting their payment. After negotiating with class attorneys and with Sage about sending a curative email that addresses the main concerns detailed by TAA in the motion, TAA agreed to withdraw the motion. Sage authors should receive the curative email this week.
TAA’s motion was filed after TAA Executive Director Kim Pawlak received an email from a TAA member on December 12 forwarding an email the author received from her publisher, Sage.
Stay updated on the latest news, advancements, and changes that are shaping the textbook and academic authoring industry with our bi-weekly Industry News Round-Up. Have an item to share? Email Sierra.Pawlak@TAAonline.net.
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By John Bond
To many people, the blank screen or page is daunting. It blinks at you. Or calls to you. Or it might even laugh at you, daring you to commit to a thought or an idea. It may seem as if you are etching something in stone that can’t be sandblasted out. Not true. Typing or writing that first line can be a challenge, though it need not be.
I’m not a big believer in “Writer’s Block.” It is not to say I don’t have real empathy for people that feel that they’re at a creative impasse or are paralyzed by the process or where their work is going. But I do think that the most common way to address this condition is tried and true. It all just comes down to writing something. Anything.
Students in anatomy and physiology (A&P) often have difficulty visualizing complex physiology concepts that require deep understanding. The fourth edition of A Visual Guide to Human Physiology by Paul A. Krieger uses visual analogies to assist students in learning the details of human physiology. Using these analogies and other tools (mnemonic devices and conceptual illustrations), students are able to take objects and processes they know from everyday life and apply them physiological concepts with which they are unfamiliar.
