Call for proposals deadline October 6 for TAA’s 2017 Conference

TAA’s 30th Annual Textbook & Academic Authoring Conference session proposals deadline is October 6, 2016. TAA invites the submission of presentations relevant to authoring and publishing textbooks and academic works (journal articles, academic books, and monographs).

The conference will be held at the Renaissance Providence Downtown Hotel, Providence, RI, June 9-10, 2017. The conference will be attended by authors and aspiring authors of textbooks, journal articles, and other academic works, as well as by industry professionals from across the country.

Call for proposals deadline October 6 for TAA’s 2017 Conference Read More

On Demand Webinar: 20 Tips & 20 questions for your next textbook deal

In this webinar recorded at the 2016 TAA Conference on June 25, Stephen Gillen, a partner at Wood Herron & Evans, and author of Guide to Textbook Publishing Contracts, takes you on a tour of a typical textbook publishing contract, pointing out the highlights along the way – what’s usually negotiable; what’s often not negotiable; what questions to ask; and when to ask them.

On Demand Webinar: 20 Tips & 20 questions for your next textbook deal Read More

Two new templates added to TAA’s Templates & Samples Resource Library

Two new templates have been added to TAA’s Templates & Samples Resource Library, a Workflow Chart Template, and a Royalty Tracking Template.

The Workflow Chart Template was contributed by Kevin Patton, author of Anatomy & Physiology (9e), who uses it to track his workflow. Available in both landscape and portrait, each row is a chapter or section and columns track items such as chapter number/title, research, reviews, copyedited draft, etc.

Two new templates added to TAA’s Templates & Samples Resource Library Read More

10 Tips for your next textbook deal

If you’ve been published, then you’ve seen it before — a “whereas” and a “therefore” followed by eight or more pages of pre-printed, pedantic prose offered up by the editor as the house’s “standard publishing contract.” Other than a few tiny spaces for your name, the title of your work, and the manuscript delivery date, the bulk of it looks as though it were long ago locked down in Century Schoolbook type.

But the truth is that there is more to review than the spelling of your name, choice of title, and projected completion date, and more to negotiate than you might realize. Here are 10 tips to help you understand what is (or ought to be) worthy of negotiation.

10 Tips for your next textbook deal Read More

Book Review: Guide to Textbook Publishing Contracts

One of the first experiences a textbook author will have is dealing with a publishing contract. Very few of us are attorneys ourselves and very few of us will have had any prior experience negotiating a publishing contract. Our expertise is in our teaching discipline—not in contract law.

I have learned—the hard way—that I should NOT be the only one looking at contracts and amendments presented to me by my publisher. I’ve therefore made it a habit to have an attorney specializing in textbook publishing contracts to review, suggest, and debate the points in anything I sign. Now I have a much better idea of the potential risks and rewards involved in each new professional writing project.

Book Review: Guide to Textbook Publishing Contracts Read More