Mary Ellen Lepionka, author of Writing and Developing Your College Textbook: A Comprehensive Guide, shares why textbooks need development and why she recommends textbook authors do their own.
4 Higher education publishers team up to fight counterfeit textbooks
In an effort to fight counterfeit textbooks, four higher education publishers, Cengage, Elsevier, McGraw-Hill Education and Pearson, have teamed up to create a website called Stop Counterfeit Textbooks.
The site includes information on how to avoid counterfeit textbooks, how to identify a counterfeit textbook, and what to do if your textbook is counterfeit. The website states: “Counterfeit textbooks are a substantial problem in the educational marketplace, burdening students with inferior products; exposing distributors to legal liability and unsaleable inventory; and depriving authors and publishers of the funds necessary to reinvest in new educational content.”
Creative self-help for textbook authors
In her 2017 TAA Conference session, “Creative Self-Help for Textbook Authors”, Mary Ellen Lepionka, co-author of Writing and Developing Your College Textbook, shares practical advice and models a creative problem solving approach that you can customize to create your own useful tools for success in your textbook enterprise. Watch the full presentations on demand.
TAA Council passes resolution on textbook counterfeiting
The TAA Council has passed a resolution on textbook counterfeiting that details a variety of actions the association will be taking to combat the issue, including educating the public about the problem, and broadening understanding of the negative ramifications of the use of counterfeit copies.
Counterfeit textbooks are “affecting the textbook marketplace and causing substantial losses of revenue for publishers and of royalties for authors and driving up the price of textbooks,” the resolution states. “Appropriate compensation for the work of textbook publishing is essential to ensure that both publishers and authors can continue to deliver excellent educational resources.”
3 Most important skills a textbook author needs to have
Sean W. Wakely, author of Writing and Developing Your College Textbook: A Comprehensive Guide, shares the three most important skills a textbook author needs to have.
32 Ways to market yourself with no money + some time (for academics)
During part two of author, workshop leader, and coach Meggin McIntosh’s TAA webinar, “Marketing? You’re Kidding Me! I’m an Academic! Marketing That Matters“, she shared these 32 ways academics can market themselves with no money, but some time.
1) Use social media, including Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, and blogs in ALL various ways possible that will allow you to promote you and what you offer. Show people that you are the expert.
2) Phone prospective clients and current clients to follow-up and ask for referrals, references, “what worked?”, and the like.