The rise of textbook prices: Authors give their perspective

It’s that time of year; students are heading back to class and hitting the campus bookstore to purchase their needed textbooks for the semester. However, recent surveys, like that by the National Association of College Stores, reveal that students are finding cheaper, alternative methods for purchasing their textbooks or not even purchasing them at all. This may not be too surprising given the latest review of the Bureau of Labor Statistics by NBC, which indicated textbook prices have increased 1,041 percent since January 1977. Often the media covers what publishers, students, and professors have to say regarding this data, but rarely do we hear from textbook authors. With that in mind, I asked our textbook author members, via the TAA Listserv, to write a response to the NBC article that gives their perspective on this issue.

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New 2015 TAA Fall Webinars – Improve Your Skills

Summer is rapidly coming to a close, meaning fall and classes are just around the corner. Now is the perfect time to start thinking about and planning your fall writing projects. Whether you are interested in learning the steps for developing a textbook, creating an online presence to build your academic brand, educating yourself on textbook royalty audits or publishing agreements, or how to write clearer academic pose, TAA’s fall webinar series for textbook and academic authors has you covered. Join us as various industry experts share their expertise on academic and textbook writing topics.

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Select 2015 TAA Conference presentations now available on demand

Select presentations from TAA’s 2015 TAA Conference in San Antonio, TX are now available on demand. Access to these presentations is free for all TAA members. Learn how to jump-start your academic writing, reach your productivity peak, publish a disciplinarily education paper, make your textbook more memorable to your audience, design and author better assessment exercises, be an effective collaborator, write a non-fiction book proposal, and more! Visit TAA’s library of Presentations on Demand

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11 Takeaways from #2015TAA that you can apply to your own writing

It’s hard to narrow down one great takeaway from a conference that is jam-packed with great content. We’ve all been to a conference where only a few of the sessions were really great, but—and I’m not biased at all—at the 2015 Textbook and Academic Authoring Conference, every single session was great! But don’t just take my word for it. All eleven of the attendees I asked to give their number one takeaway said it was hard to give just one. Luckily, however, each was able to narrow it down and give really solid advice learned. I think you’ll not only enjoy these takeaways, but also, be able to learn and apply them to your own writing.

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