Call for Proposals: Textbook and academic authoring conference

TAA’s 31st Annual Textbook & Academic Authoring Conference will be held at La Fonda on the Plaza, Santa Fe, NM, June 15-16, 2018. The conference is attended by authors and aspiring authors of textbooks, journal articles, and other academic works, as well as by industry professionals from across the country.

TAA invites the submission of presentations relevant to authoring and publishing textbooks and academic works (journal articles, books, and monographs).

7 steps to creating a new writing habit

es when we try to create a habit or a change in behavior, we try and create or change too much at once. Unfortunately this overreach is often not sustainable and we crash and burn in failure.

Fall is a great time to start fresh and focus on forming new behaviors. With the right steps to follow, along with determination and commitment, you can work to create a new writing habit that sticks.

Give your faculty authors a boost: Host a TAA sponsored writing workshop at your institution

During the 2017-18 academic year, TAA will help sponsor a limited number of faculty writing workshops at universities and colleges across the country. TAA’s sponsorship covers the majority of the cost of bringing a presenter to your institution. The host institution is responsible for a fee of $1,650, which includes up to 75 TAA faculty memberships, available to faculty whether or not they attend the workshop. TAA provides an online institutional membership application process that makes joining TAA easy for both the institution and faculty.

5 Strategies for using social media to promote your writing

The purpose of using social media as an academic is to do more than spread the word, it is also a way to develop readers and relationships, said Janet Salmons, an independent researcher, writer and consultant with Vision2Lead, Inc., in a TAA webinar entitled, “Six Strategies for Using Social Media to Promote Your Writing.”

“What’s unique about the social media networking environment is the ability to find groups of people of like mind and interact with people and get their perspectives and engage with them because they are able to produce content as well,” she said.

The not-always-obvious ‘infrastructure’ of journal articles: Abstracts and textual linkages

Not all who wander are lost.  In fact, some who wander are not lost but just exploring the terrain. Yet, when I read a journal article, I do not want to wander and wonder where the work is headed. Partly because of my busy schedule and largely because I am seeking ideas, information and even inspiration, I want to know right away what the scholarly work is about. Scholars can guide readers along a smooth reading road by paying attention to the not-so-obvious infrastructure of typical journal articles and writing their submissions with this structure in mind.

Productivity tips for authors ‘on the go’

Q: As a “pro on the go” what do you do to ensure you can stay productive?

A: Eric J. Schmieder, author, presenter, and computer technology instructor:

As a corporate trainer and adjunct instructor, I am always on the road and find myself relying more on my mobile device to stay connected, stay productive, and better prepare me to get things done when I do find a place to land with my laptop. I find it important to arm myself with the best tools to keep moving on my long-term projects.