TAA announces 2019 Textbook Award winners

Thirty-one textbooks have been awarded 2019 Textbook Awards by the Textbook & Academic Authors Association (TAA). Four textbooks received William Holmes McGuffey Longevity Awards, 17 textbooks received Textbook Excellence Awards, and ten textbooks received Most Promising New Textbook Awards.

The McGuffey Longevity Award recognizes textbooks and learning materials whose excellence has been demonstrated over time. The Textbook Excellence Award recognizes excellence in current textbooks and learning materials. The Most Promising New Textbook Award recognizes excellence in 1st edition textbooks and learning materials.

The awards will be presented during an awards reception at TAA’s 32nd Annual Textbook & Academic Authoring Conference in Philadelphia, PA, June 14, 2019.

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The digital transformation of publishing: What this means for authors

In her presentation at the 31stAnnual Textbook & Academic Authoring Conference in Santa Fe, NM, June Jamrich Parsons shared an overview of the publishing industry with specific focus on the market, industry profitability, publishing formats, and disruptors impacting the role of the author within this changing world of publishing.

In her summary, Parsons stated that “the market for educational products and services is large and growing.” As a result, “this market is a huge target for disruptors.”

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Can I help you in any way? Publishing strategies (part 2)

“Hello, thank you for visiting. Can I help you in any way?” If you’ve browsed our TAA website, you’ve likely seen those words in the chat box that appears on the screen. We’re often asked by visitors if we’re “real”. Then those who realize that we are, and that we are there to help, ask questions that you may have as well.

In this series of “Can I help you in any way?” posts, we’re highlighting some of the questions people have asked through the TAA Live Chat feature of our site and the responses we have for those questions.

In the first post on questions about publishing strategies, we focused specifically on the process of finding a publisher and submitting a book proposal. In this second post on the subject, we’ll explore other related questions receive through the chat.

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Can I help you in any way? Publishing strategies (part 1)

“Hello, thank you for visiting. Can I help you in any way?” If you’ve browsed our TAA website, you’ve likely seen those words in the chat box that appears on the screen. We’re often asked by visitors if we’re “real”. Then those who realize that we are, and that we are there to help, ask questions that you may have as well.  

In this series of “Can I help you in any way?” posts, we’re highlighting some of the questions people have asked through the TAA Live Chat feature of our site and the responses we have for those questions. In this post, we’re focused on questions about publishing strategies.  

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Writing and publishing for everyone; Not just the 90%

Authors need to consider accessibility when creating materials and choosing a publisher, but how can they this when it is such a misunderstood word?

Accessibility, in regard to publishing, means making content available in alternative formats for individuals with visual impairment or learning disabilities.

People may conjure up Braille as making content accessible to people with disabilities or learning issues. Publishing, however, has progressed so much farther than this. Using such technical standards as ePub3, HTML5, alt text, and other specific initiatives, publishers can make their content accessible to a growing audience.

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Can I help you in any way? Courses and workshops

“Hello, thank you for visiting. Can I help you in any way?” If you’ve browsed our TAA website, you’ve likely seen those words in the chat box that appears on the screen. We’re often asked by visitors if we’re “real”. Then those who realize that we are, and that we are there to help, ask questions that you may have as well.

In this series of “Can I help you in any way?” posts, we’ll highlight some of the questions people have asked through the TAA Live Chat feature of our site and the responses we have for those questions. In this post, we’re focused on a question about textbook writing courses or workshops.

Recently one of our visitors came onto the chat “looking for textbook writing courses or workshops that could help [them] to develop [their] textbook” and asked, “Could you suggest any place where to look for those kind of workshops?”

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