Mervin (Mike) L. Keedy Obituary

In March, 2020, we received notice from Nathan Keedy that TAA’s founding member, Mike Keedy, had passed away, just shy of his 100th birthday. Nathan provided his father’s obituary, which we share below, with an expanded section related to Mike’s TAA activities.

Mervin (Mike) L. Keedy Obituary

Mike KeedyDr. Mervin (Mike) Keedy died peacefully at home with his family on March 14. As a math professor it is fitting that he died on pi day, 3.14.  Dr. Keedy was born (the oldest of 3 sons) on August 2, 1920 on a farm in western Nebraska of parents: Albert L. Keedy, Jr. and Iva Barney Keedy.

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Member Spotlight: Talya N. Bauer

TAA member Talya N. Bauer is a Cameron Professor of Management at Portland State University and is a textbook author in the management writing discipline.

Her most recent publications are Fundamentals of Human Resource Management: People, Data, and Analytics; Human Resource Management: People, Data, and Analytics; Organizational Behavior: Bridging Science and Practice; Essentials of Organizational Behavior: Bridging Science and Practice; and Psychology and Work: Introduction to Industrial and Organizational Psychology.

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2020 TAA Council election results announced

TAA members Dave Dillion and Rick Mullins have been elected to the TAA Council, the association’s governing board. This will be Dillon’s second term. They will serve three-year terms beginning July 1, 2020.

Dillon is counseling faculty and a professor at Grossmont College. He curated, co-authored and edited three College Success textbooks including Blueprint for Success in College and Career (Rebus Community, 2018), which won a Textbook Excellence Award from TAA and the Open Textbook award from Open Education Global.

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Full results of TAA’s 2020 Textbook Contracts & Royalties Survey now available

In a recent survey conducted by the Textbook & Academic Authors Association (TAA), 27% of respondents reported that their 2019 royalties were 25% or more lower than in recent years. Only 8% reported that their royalties were 25% or more higher than in recent years.

One survey respondent, who writes in the Business discipline for Cengage and has been authoring textbooks since 1985, said: “Cengage Unlimited has had a significant impact on our royalties. We were told that CU would capture more sales (at a lower price point). It has not happened; we are selling (marginally) fewer units, but at a much lower price point.” The highest royalty rate this respondent had negotiated for both their print and digital textbooks was 20% and the lowest was 15%. They also reported their 2019 royalties were between 10% and 25% lower than recent years.

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Access TAA’s 250+ on demand presentations free during COVID-19 pandemic

TAA is committed to its mission of supporting “textbook and academic authors in the creation of top-quality educational and scholarly works that stimulate the love of learning and foster the pursuit of knowledge.” To this end, we want to ensure that all textbook and academic authors have the opportunity to maintain a healthy writing practice every day.

In support of continued growth and development for textbook and academic authors, TAA has opened up the entire library of 250+ on demand presentations for the duration of the COVID-19 pandemic crisis.

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