Authoring a textbook supplement, rather than a traditional textbook, can be a rewarding and lucrative experience if you’re working with the right small publisher. Paul Krieger, author of a four-book Visual Analogy Guide supplement series with Morton Publishing, shares eight benefits from his experience authoring with a small publisher like Morton.
How to use graphic design principles to evaluate the effectiveness of your book cover
All four books in textbook supplement author Paul Krieger’s Visual Analogy series showcase a visual analogy on the cover, a great advertisement for one of the key learning tools that make his books unique: visual analogies.
“My whole book idea was born in the lab from my teaching,” says Krieger, whose books include A Visual Guide to Human Anatomy, A Visual Analogy Guide to Physiology, A Visual Analogy Guide to Human Anatomy and Physiology, and A Visual Analogy Guide to Chemistry. “I used to sketch visual analogies out at my students’ lab tables, and it was students who encouraged me to write my first book 17 years ago. In the anatomy and physiology lab, students have to learn different anatomical structures. So, for example, when they need to learn the thoracic vertebra, I use a giraffe head to create a visual analogy that helps them learn and remember all of the parts of the thoracic vertebra, which is shaped like a giraffe head.”
Feeling empowered to take a seat at the publishing table
In this blog post, long-time colleagues Karen Sladyk (professor and bestselling author) and John Bond (Publishing Consultant) discuss taking the first steps as an academic toward taking a seat at the publishing table.
Despite years of academic and professional accomplishments, taking the step to become involved in publishing may seem daunting. Finding seat at the table may not feel comfortable at first. More experienced colleagues and veteran editors and publishing-types seem to be monopolizing space and speaking an unknown jargon. Fear not!
When to consider authoring as a work for hire
Work made for hire is writing that is done as part of a person’s job or as an independent contractor who signs an advance written agreement that the work is “work for hire” or “work made for hire.” Authors of a work made for hire have fewer rights than authors who sign a copyright transfer agreement. In effect, the organization that hires the author owns the work. That organization can, within the constraints of the agreement, do whatever they want with the work including adding drastic changes or deciding to not publish it. If the work made for hire is done as part of the author’s regular job, the author will not receive royalties unless a written agreement assigns royalties to the author.
2021 TAA Textbook Awards Ceremony is available on demand
On March 19, 2021 the Textbook & Academic Authors Association celebrated 44 authors across 25 winning titles in the 2021 Textbook Awards program. The ceremony included recognition of each title and video acceptance speeches from more than half of the award-winning authors.
Watch the entire ceremony on demand below or directly on YouTube.
4/5 TAA Webinar, “Your Textbook Isn’t Being Revised. Now What?”
As publishing companies look to manage costs and focus on large introductory courses, many high-quality and high-value textbooks are not being revised.
Join us Monday, April 5, from 11 a.m. to 12 p.m. ET for the TAA Webinar, “Your Textbook Isn’t Being Revised. Now What?”, when Donna Battista, VP of Content Strategy at Top Hat, and previous Pearson Executive, will help authors navigate this increasingly common challenge. She’ll provide guidance on requesting rights back, what to do when rights are reverted, and what options there are to make content available.