|
Post-Convention
Survey
What
three things would make you want to come to a TAA Convention?
Send your replies to kmpawlak@centurytel.net
Convention
Materials
to Download
Download
handouts and presentation files from various convention
sessions.
click here
Scenes
from
the Convention:
Luncheon presentation by Chris Harris
Full
Convention Photo Gallery
(Members
Only section. Email kmpawlak@centurytel.net
if password reminder is needed)
|
Convention
Articles/News
info
from the convention
Maintain
good relationship with your editor
If you develop
a good business and personal relationship with your editor, you
can get a better feel for how they can provide you with support,
said Marilyn "Winkie" Fordney, the author of insurance billing
and medical assisting books.
"Find out
where the person came from and whether they have been in business
for a long time," she said. "Find out about their personal life.
Do they have children? If they do, you'll know that if sometimes
they are unavailable, it might be because their children are sick.
When you visit with them, bring toys for their kids. This shows
that you remembered about their children."
Other ways
to a build a relationship with your editor, said Fordney:
• Compliment
them when they've done something that was helpful to you. "They
probably don't get complimented very often," she said. "If you
compliment them, they will be more willing to help you again."
• Gift
them gifts for their birthday and Christmas. "Don't give them
something of too little or too much value," she said. "Find out
what they like or bring them a gift that is unique to your community."
• Invest
in the stock of the company that is publishing your book. "That
way, you get inside information on how the company is doing."
she said.
• Document
communications with your editor. If disagreements over what was
discussed come up, you have documentation to back you up, she
said.
• If
you complain, then give them a suggestion or a solution.
• Share
materials relevant to your book with your editor. "When I come
across newspaper articles about a new technology I want to use
in my book, I send a copy of them to my editor," she said.
• Visit
and take photos at your publisher's book display. "I e-mail the
pictures to them as attachments," she said. "My editors often
place them on the bulletin board outside their office."
• Tell
your editor about any ideas you have about new editions.
• Ask
your editor to acknowledge receipt of phone calls and e-mails.
• Copy
the vital members of your production team on any emails to your
editor to keep them all in the loop.
If you ever
get angry at your editor and feel like retorting back, let some
time pass before you do, said Fordney. "Write e-mail messages
and then don't send them," she said. "Once you've cooled off,
rewrite them in a more positive light."
When she
gets upset, she said, she thinks of the end goal: "The goal is
to get the book out. Remain professional and maintain the attitude
that you are going to get there and get there in a positive way.
back
to top
It's broke,
let's fix it
The educational
literature regarding textbook adoptions doesn't focus on the process,
but on the failure of it - the plethora of badly written, inaccurate
textbooks -- said Christopher Stream, assistant professor of Public
Administration at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, designated
as principal investigator by TAA for a potential grant to study
state adoption policies and practices for textbooks.
"I am more
interested in the process," he said. "We don't write books intending
to provide inaccurate, boring and poorly written textbooks."
The textbook
adoption process has become the battleground for social conflicts
in states and communities, said Stream. "On the one side is the
Texas model (the religious right; ideas determine social condition)
and on the other side is the California model (the liberal left;
must be sensitive to all conditions)," he said. "Learning is secondary
to the process. Effectiveness is not on the list." A part of the
puzzle, said Stream, is linking textbooks to effectiveness. Currently,
books are reviewed by unskilled and untrained reviewers. Also,
he said, the textbook given to teachers through the textbook adoption
process isn't the one they would use, yet they are accountable
if children don't learn. "There's also censorship that goes on
among publishers of K-12 texts," said Stream. "They water down
the book even further than required to ensure that they don't
offend anyone and lose the adoption."
What is the
motivation? he asks. Money. "I think it's a myth that Texas and
California control textbook adoptions," said Stream. "Textbook
supply is controlled by four mega publishers. It's a $4.3 billion
industry. It's big money, big industry."
The result,
he said: powerful political interests whose censorship influences
content; powerful publisher market domination, which stifles competition
and innovation; and dull, boring, ineffective texts.
Stream said
two options for fixing the current textbook adoption process are
to decentralize it and return control to districts and schools,
and to offer more customized textbook options based on what schools
want (something that is already being done in some areas).
back
to top
How to
obtain permission, use the public domain
Copyrighted
work can be used even if not fair use or under another statutory
limitation if you get permission, said Barbara Waxer, co-author
of Internet Surf and Turf: The Essential Guide to Copyright,
Fair Use, and Finding Media. How do you get permission? Write
a letter or send an e-mail to the copyright holder, she said:
"The alternative is to receive a letter asking you to cease and
desist using the copyright holder's work. If you receive such
a letter you need to take it seriously."
Barbara
Waxer |
Look for the
copyright holder's terms of use -- what you need to do exactly
to obtain permission to use their content, said Waxer. (You might
have to search for this on their website, since where it is placed
is not standard. Look under "Terms of Use," "About Us," "Information,"
etc.)
If the work
is in the public domain or is a fair use situation, you can use
it, she said. "There are four factors to determining fair use:
1) the purpose and character of the use; 2) the nature of the
copyrighted work; 3) the amount and substantiality of the portion
used in relation to the copyrighted work as a whole; 4) the effect
of the use on the market or the potential market for the copyrighted
work." If it is not in the public domain or a situation of fair
use, said Waxer, you need to seek permission to use the work.
She offers
the following help in locating open access (flexible copyright
licenses) and public domain material:
Open access:
Public domain
sites:
back
to top
10 tips
for successful marketing
"When authors
invest the dedicated time and effort to produce a textbook, it's
important that they do it with a goal that it will be adopted
and read and that it will provoke learning," said Robert Christopherson,
author of the bestselling introductory geography textbook, Elemental
Geosystems. "This requires thought throughout the creation
process toward our involvement in marketing and how the post-production/sales
period will progress," he said. "Marketing and sales are areas
of publisher responsibility for sure, and I respect these editorial
channels of authority, however I have learned that the marketing
process works best with proactive, aggressive, and consistent
effort." Christopherson shares the following ten marketing tips
and strategies:
Robert
W. Christopherson, Professor Emeritus of Geography at American
River College in Sacramento, and author of three best-selling
physical geography texts. |
1) Treat authoring
as a business -- create text-specific letterhead and business
cards. "The cards are quite effective in adopter contacts, with
students, and to have available at your publisher's booth at annual
meetings," he said. "Develop a representative icon for your text
that carries over to your card and letterhead."
2) Set up
a post office box for those readers that use snail mail. Since
1995, said Christopherson, all his texts have included his e-mail
address, along with a P.O. Box with his name salutation, at the
end of the Preface. At the beginning of the term and around finals,
he receives anywhere from a few e-mails to six to 10 per week.
"The feedback I receive is so valuable that the work input is
easily justified," he said. "I respond to each one, in earnest,
and usually get a surprised and pleased response, e.g., 'I never
expected an author to actually write me back.' In my working copy
of the finished text and for my preparation file for the next
edition, I mark up the text with comments. These e-mails provide
valuable error and clarification points. After two years, when
I sit down to begin a revision on a three-year cycle, I have this
ready-made resource already in hand from hundreds of 'conversations.'
As a marketing asset, I think that all these contacts and replies
develop strength in the connective tissue that supports your textbooks
in the market."
3) Be available
at your publisher's booth at professional meetings. "Make sure
your editor and marketing director have all the information for
upcoming meetings," he said. "Offer involvement in preparing ad
copy for the conference programs. Help with the booth. Usually
some local sales rep is stuck with packing up the booth on the
last day, the word is out among the sales reps that I help out
- which gives me a feeling of full-cycle involvement."
4) Offer
to proofread sales manual copy, both print and e-catalogues. "Only
authors know the buzz words, correct vernacular, vocabulary, and
sales features of their own textbook," he said. "Build on the
copy the publisher provides."
5) Do the
first several editions of your ancillaries. "This will give the
ancillaries your style and approach," he said. "These editions
then become the guides for later editions that will be done by
work-for-hire third parties. I know the authors of my ancillaries
and am available to them for questions and collaboration."
6) Become
active in the instructional CD-ROM process. "My publisher invested
in an instructional CD-ROM to accompany each of my texts," he
said. "By doing all the design and preparing the functional layout,
as well as the storyboards for the animations, I was able to get
the inclusion of many features not on other CDs. Remember, this
is usually personal work 'on spec' with compensation derived from
increased text sales stimulated by the CD asset."
7) Become
involved in the creation of an interactive website for your text.
View Christopherson's at www.prenhall.com/christopherson
8) Make sure
that sales reps, marketing personnel, editors and adopters, know
that you are available for feedback, questions, and criticism.
"Be available to speak, when asked, at national sales meetings
that most publishers hold twice a year," he said. "We need to
teach editors, sales reps, and managers about our books
and disciplines."
9) Know your
market and your competition, and write the best student-friendly
text possible - there's nothing like a great book that sells itself.
"Yes, I used the word 'sells,' for this is appropriate to say
in our important academic work!" he said.
10) Go to
TAA meetings and participate in the TAA newsletter and website.
"No one knows better the isolation that the creative process requires
more than other authors," he said. "The network and supportive
web among authors is powerful."
back
to top
Online
on-demand publishing service offers publishing alternative
When Matthew
Basham, program director main contact and lead instructor for
the St. Petersburg College-CISCO Regional Networking Academy,
posted his Learning by Doing: CISCO Network Administrator lab
manual as a free download (or $15 for a printed version) on Lulu.com,
an online on-demand publishing service, he was hoping to provide
students with a less expensive version of the manual than what
his high-priced traditional publisher had been offering.
To his surprise,
within the first two months, 20 million electronic copies of the
book had been downloaded. "The book is a constantly evolving project,"
he said. Because the manual is electronic, he is able to update
it frequently, rather than on a traditional publisher's edition
cycle.
While Basham's
experience is not typical, authors are finding on-demand publishing
services like Lulu.com to be a great way to sell a book that may
not be marketable to a traditional publisher, or to maintain more
control over their work. "Lulu.com enables people with intellectual
property that has a small audience or an uncertain value, a way
to publish their work at no cost," says Gart Davis, president
of Lulu.com
Lulu.com
is a free publishing service that allows authors to upload their
intellectual property into any format (e.g., Word, PDF) along
with a digital photo of the book's cover. "Our service supports
70 different combinations of trim size and bind style (as well
as CDs and DVDs)," said Davis. "Authors can take their digital
copy all the way through the process that will render it into
press-ready digital book."
Eighty percent
of the sales of all books posted on Lulu.com go to the author.
Authors can charge whatever they want for their book. Basham generates
additional revenue from his book by selling ad space. Authors
retain copyright, and are free to publish elsewhere.
"Authors
have the right to publish the book, take it down, revise it and
price it at what they prefer," said Davis. For more information
about Lulu.com, visit http://www.lulu.com.
back
to top
Marketing
your book
Marketing
your book is about author-publisher cooperation, says mathematics
author Michael Sullivan. He shares what authors should do regarding
marketing before the writing begins, as the writing progresses,
before publication, after publication and when preparing for the
second edition:
Mike Sullivan
TAA Treasurer and Former TAA President
|
Before
the writing begins:
- Establish
a reputation. Request a day-long meeting with the publisher.
Meet the marketing people, the sales director and the designer,
art/illustrator, etc. Attend professional meetings and give
presentations that include academic research and classroom strategies.
- Get known
by editors. Visit publisher exhibits and introduce yourself.
Have a secure knowledge of existing books. Indicate an interest
in writing a book, assisting with a revision, and/or coauthoring.
Agree to review or assist in the writing process.
As the
writing progresses:
- Continue
to attend professional meetings and build your reputation.
- Give presentations
that relate to the particular point of view of your book.
- Class test
the book in your classes; ask a friend to do the same.
Before
publication:
- Request
a day-long meeting with the publisher. Meeting the marketing
people and the sales directors and others who will work on your
book.
- Ask to
attend the national sales meeting. Meet and greet the sales
and marketing people. Don't be pushy and don't ask to present.
"Have drinks with them; exchange your business card and email
address; and let them know that you are available to them,"
he said.
- Get to
know the marketing people. Offer to help them understand your
product. Offer to proofread marketing materials.
After publication:
- Work the
publisher's booth at the book exhibits of professional meetings.
"It's important to be there," he said. "Many times questions
will come up that only you can answer. Offer to help set up
the exhibit, and stay on the last day and help break down the
booth." Tactfully assist in selling situations with your book:
"Don't oversell your stuff. I wait for questions to come to
me rather than saying things I think the person wants to hear."
When it comes to sales, though, he said, you have to be good
at it: "You don't want to screw up a sale."
- Give sales
reps your e-mail address and encourage them to contact you.
- Offer to
go on sales calls and/or give talks at schools that might adopt
your book.
Preparing
for the next edition:
- Ask the
editor for diary reviews from users. Diary reviews are first
semester usage reviews by users of the book. The publisher slices
the binding off the book, creates a three-hole punch, and puts
it in a binder with blank pages in between each text page. Diary
reviews offer quick, right after teaching reactions to the text;
are good for reprint errors; and can be used to begin a file
for a revision.
- Ask your
editor for reviews from users of competing texts. If your book
didn't win the adoption, this helps you find out why. It's important
for revision purposes, and to establish a relationship with
the school so that you may get the adoption next time (with
the hope that once you get it you will keep it).
back
to top
Author
input needed to create effective accessible texts
When visually
disabled or dyslexic students comes to class the first day and
announce that they cannot use the print materials assigned to
the class, those students must jump through hurdles to get the
materials in a format accessible to him or her, said Robert Martinengo,
co-founder of The Center for Accessible Publishing.
If the student
is lucky, his or her institution will have adaptive software,
such as Kurzweil 3000 from Kurzweil Educational Systems (www.kurzweiledu.com),
that allows a student to have their textbook electronically "read"
out loud to him or her. If the student's institution doesn't have
such software, the institution may contact the publisher to request
electronic files, or contact a nonprofit such as Recording for
the Blind & Dyslexic, which may have the book in audio format..
Making texts
accessible to disabled students is a process now being done without
author participation, said Martinengo, and he believes that should
change: "Authors should be involved in the process of converting
text to accessible formats because it's their material - they
are the experts."
When a print
textbook is converted into an accessible format, much of what
makes it a great textbook for visual readers is lost - the visual
context that the author creates for the text to help non-disabled
readers understand the material are not being translated to the
print disabled reader, he says. The situation would be improved
if the author were involved in the process of creating an electronic
file to be used by disabled students.
Currently,
schools are responsible for providing accessible materials for
students, said Martinengo, but he would like publishers to share
that responsibility. Electronic files, he said, make it possible
for publishers to provide accessible versions of their textbooks
to an institution at the same time as printed textbooks - reducing
the discrimination faced by disabled students.
Through The
Center for Accessible Publishing, he hopes to not only make it
easier for disabled students to access textbooks, but to encourage
authors to become involved in the process so that accessible texts
are not just bad versions of print textbooks. Any author interested
in participating in a pilot project to create fully accessible
textbooks should contact Robert Martinengo at rmartinengo@gmail.com.
back
to top
What to
do when your publisher Is sold
Mathematics
author Mike Sullivan shares this advice for what to do when the
publishing company that currently publishes your book gets sold
to another publisher:
• Look
at the new publisher's list for books that might compete with
your own.
• Learn
who the people are that are now involved in the hierarchy of the
company and get to know them.
back
to top
Wakefield:
U.S. behind other nations regarding textbook research
Other nations,
led by Norway and Australia, are much more active than the United
States in the area of textbook research, said TAA President John
Wakefield, in a report at the TAA Convention in Orlando regarding
his participation in the First International Seminar on Textbooks
in Santiago, Chile April 19-21, where he learned the status of
textbook development around the world.
"The U.S.
needs to look at textbooks as objects of research as well as tools
for educators," he said. "There are three reasons for the dichotomy
between research and teaching in the United States: 1) If you
do research, you aren't working on textbooks; 2) textbook authorship
is not supported by government grants (this is not the case in
other countries -- Norwegian and Australian governments assist
authors in the publication of texts); 3) and there is an assumption
in the U.S. that the textbook evaluation process is sufficient
to improve textbooks."
That assumption,
he said, is not accurate: "The textbook adoption process is not
scientific. Each participant in the process has a different agenda.
Some decisions made during the process are political, period."
Textbook
evaluations and textbook reports are the closest the U.S. comes
to textbook research, said Wakefield. A study by the U.S. Department
of Education regarding textbook usage, called What Happens in
Classrooms? Instructional Practices in Elementary and Secondary
Schools, 1994-95, a survey of 3,994 K-12 teachers, published in
1999, he said, found that on average, 74 percent of teachers reported
that students use a textbook at least once a week. It also found
that usage becomes extensive during the upper elementary years,
declines during middle school, and increases during high school,
and that textbook use for homework reflects textbook use in class.
"Why are
textbooks effective at the grade school and high school level
but not a the middle school level?" asked Wakefield. "What leads
to texts not being effective at that level? At the middle school
level, children are at the exploratory stage, and learning needs
to be more experiential. Because of this, textbooks need to be
redesigned for the middle school level. We need to rethink what
children are doing at that age to make our textbooks more successful.
Challenges still exist for teachers and textbook authors at the
middle school level and in raising achievement overall in U.S.
history."
Another U.S.
Department of Education study, The Nation's Report Card: U.S.
History 2001, a survey of 29,000 students in grades 4, 8 and 12
taking national tests on U.S. History, published in 2002, found
that frequent usage of current textbooks appears to help most
students learn the basics of U.S. history, both at the elementary
and high school level. "This is positive news for textbook authors,"
says Wakefield.
back
to top
Tax tips
for authors
Textbook
authors are subject to self-employment taxes on their authoring
income, said Paul Rosenzweig, a CPA and consultant with Royalty
Review Service LLC. "All advances, all grants and all royalties
received are reportable on tax returns," he says.
Royalty income
should get reported on Schedule C or C-EZ, not on Schedule E,
said Rosenzweig. "Although Schedule E has a royalties received
line, author royalties don't belong there," he said. "The royalties
income line on Schedule E is for reporting oil, gas & coal
production royalties, inherited royalties, and for retired authors
who are no longer writing but still collecting royalties on past
books."
Rosenzweig
said that once authors are self-employed and filing a Schedule
C, numerous opportunities open up. One of those is deducting a
percentage of expenses for the business use of their home, he
said (emphasizing that authors should be managing their affairs
with a tax professional): "Authors can depreciate a percentage
of their living space that is used for their office. They can
also deduct a percentage of their homeowner's insurance, utilities,
phone, repairs and maintenance, gardening, homeowner dues, etc.,
equal to the percentage of their office space. The larger the
area of your office space, the greater the deduction. Move your
office into the largest spare room in your home. You can use two
rooms as offices (for example, one for working, and one for storage)."
Another area
authors should know about when filing a Schedule C or C-EZ, said
Rosenzweig, is the benefits of setting up a SEP IRA (Self Employed
Pension Individual Retirement Account): "If your authoring income
is 'extra' income and your employer's 401-K or other tax deferred
arrangement is not adequate for your needs, you can set up a SEP
IRA that can lower your taxes. Additionally, there are other retirement
plans available to self employed authors that may require the services
of an actuary, but yield even greater retirement plan contributions
and tax savings."
back
to top
Google
Book Search explained
Roland
Lange, strategic partner development manager of Google Book
Search
|
Roland Lange,
strategic partner development manager of Google Book Search, told
an audience of text and academic authors at the TAA Convention
in Orlando July 8, that Google's goal with its Print Library Project
is comprehensiveness and protecting copyright.
Copyrighted
books, he said, are protected by a "snippet view" system that
the company created that shows images of three "torn out" sections
of a page (rip marks appear at the top and bottom of these snippets,
with a few lines of text visible in between). These "snippets"
are chosen at random by Google's search system, he said, making
it impossible for a user to piece the entire work together.
"One publisher
told me that trying to put together a book in Google's snippet
view is like trying to put a book together that's been through
a shredder," said Lange.
Google has
agreements with five research libraries to digitize all the books
on their shelves, including those with copyrights. The plan to
digitize copyrighted books without prior consent of the copyright
holder has authors, publishers and authoring groups claiming copyright
infringement. The Authors Guild filed a class action lawsuit against
Google claiming copyright infringement at the expense of individual
writers. The Association of American Publishers filed a suit against
Google on behalf of five major publishers over the company's plans
to digitally copy and distribute copyrighted works without permission
of the copyright holders.
Lange asserts
that Google's digitization of copyrighted books falls under fair
use, and as such is not a violation of copyright. He also argued
that the principles employed Google Book Search are the same "snippet
use" fair use principles that underly its website search practices.
Any copyright holder of a book digitized by Google , said, can
ask that it be removed from the program. Copyright holders say
that they shouldn't have to ask that it be removed -- Google should
have to ask permission to digitize it.
Lange provided
TAA Convention attendees with a detailed look at its Google Book
Search and Google Print Library Projects. With Google Book Search,
he said, publishers and individual authors who hold the copyright
to their works, can upload their books on Google Book Search using
Google's
Book Search Partner Program. Lange said Google Book Search
is a free sales and marketing tool that is especially useful for
books that are out of print or hard to find. "Google Book Search
suggests books to people who didn't even know they were looking
for those books," he said. Lange shared the process Google uses
to place books on Google Book Search:
1) Publisher
provides a PDF of the physical copy of the books to Google.
2) Google
digitizes the books, indexes the content (making it searchable),
and hosts the data on its secure servers.
3) When a
user searches Google Book Search, for "gardening books" for example,
Google's search feature looks for the word "gardening" in its
database of books and offers up results.
4) Depending
on what the publisher has allowed Google to provide, the user
may see a snippet view of the work, a full page view, a sample
pages view, a table of contents, and/or an index.
5) The user
can then click on a "buy this book" button to purchase the book
directly from the publisher.
"Google gets
no cut of book sales through Google Book Search," said Lange.
At this time, Google generates no revenue from its Google Book
Search and Print Library Projects, he said.
The publisher
may add or remove a book from Google's server at any time with
no cost, he said.
Digitized
books are protected by Google's high level of security, said Lange:
"Google Book Search offers limited browsing; only 20 percent of
the book is viewable; images are low-resolution; and the print,
copy and save features are disabled."
Lange also
shared some future projects regarding its Google Book Search program
that will benefit authors:
• Paid
online access. A user will be able to buy or rent access to an
online version of a textbook. The publisher/author can set the
price and rental terms (one week, one month, or permanent access).
• Print
on demand. Publishers/authors can offer their books through Google
Book Search as print on demand.
• Advertising
revenue. Publishers/authors can allow Google to place ads on their
Book Search pages and receive a royalty on each click.
back
to top
The
secrets of a prolific author
Marilyn
"Winkie" Fordney |
If you want
to become a more successful and productive author, said Marilyn
"Winkie" Fordney, the author of insurance billing and medical
assisting books, choose a topic that is a first in its field or
with little or no competition. Using this strategy and others,
Fordney has published more than 50 books, many of which are the
leading textbooks in her field. "I submitted my first manuscript
to four different publishers and all wanted it," she said. "Because
of this it gave me a little edge in the contract negotiation.
First I hired a contract attorney from Capital Records who taught
me from the beginning the do's and don't's of negotiating." Fordney
shares these additional strategies for becoming a more prolific
author:
• Know
your target audience and explain in detail some possible selling
and marketing features to your publisher that are not addressed
in the current competition.
• Offer
something unique. Present a different methodology or a book that
fills a certain niche (for example, a short course book that is
used for one semester). "If the publisher already has several
titles for the same course, do cross promotion with established
titles, target your book to different market levels, or develop
a different conceptual, thematic or organizational approach,"
she said.
• Work
with a co-author. "This helps you reduce writing time so you can
produce more books in a shorter timeframe," she said.
• Write
a book that concentrates on one aspect of a more general course
book. For example, Fordney wrote Administrative Medical Assisting,
Medical Transcription Techniques and Procedures, and Dictionary
for Insurance, Billing, Coding, and Compliance, all topics
covered in less detail in Insurance Handbook for the Medical
Office.
• Aim
for a high quality textbook. Thoroughly research technical material
and develop the best visuals (easily understood figures, concise
tables, relevant examples, screened boxes for important material
and icons). "The most lacking thing in books is visuals," she
said. "I use arrows with color highlights to point out what appears
in a visual I'm referring to in the text."
• Assist
the publisher in creating ancillary products (test bank, CD tutorial,
internet website, instructor's resource manual, workbook).
• Pay
attention to reviewer's comments. "Write down the 'little gems'
that give you 'aha' moments," she said. Research all questions
posed by reviewers because some comments on technical data may
be erroneous due to the fact that the reviewer may be located
in a specific region and it is handled differently in that locale."
• Get
organized. File technical material (journal, newspaper and magazine
articles) and set a daily routine for writing when you are freshest.
"When you hear something pertinent to your topic, jump on it now
- don't procrastinate," she said.
• Write
a comprehensive and complete proposal. Include a detailed table
of contents, a list of competitors' strengths and weaknesses and
why your book is different. Attach your curriculum vitae.
• Cultivate
your editors and sales reps. "I go to every annual meeting, e.g.
medical assisting, and meet with my publishers," she said. "I
take photos of my sales reps and editors at the meeting and send
them to my publisher. They often post them on the bulletin board
outside their office. This gives you a good rapport with them.
That relationship with sales reps helps you keep your finger on
the pulse of what's happening in classrooms."
back
to top
TAA
ED Hull has some 'pun' with convention attendees
Carrying on
the decade-old tradition of former TAA Executive Director Ron
Pynn, who opened each year's TAA Awards Banquet with his own brand
of humor, current TAA Executive Director Richard Hull entertained
the audience at this year's Awards Banquet with an announcement
of his fatal weakness: he loves to pun. Hull had some pun using
attendees' names. Read his entire address here.
Have a weakness
for puns? Share them with fellow TAA members: kmpawlak@centurytel.net
back
to top
Sullivan
receives TAA President's Award
Past-President
Michael Sullivan |
Past-President
Michael Sullivan received the 2006 President's Award at the TAA
Awards Banquet, held the Friday night of the TAA Convention in
Orlando, Florida. The President's Award is presented by the current
TAA president to someone who in his or her view has great potential
for service in TAA.
back
to top
Pynn receives
TAA's Mike Keedy Award
Former
TAA Executive Director, Ron Pynn |
Former Executive
Director Ron Pynn, now TAA Council secretary, received the 2006
Mike Keedy Award at the TAA Awards Banquet, held the Friday night
of the TAA Convention in Orlando, Florida. The Mike Keedy Award
is named after the founder of TAA and is the highest award the
organization can give a member for their work on behalf of authors.
Pynn was a founding member of TAA and served as its executive
director for 10 years, from 1995 to 2005.
back
to top
Seidick
receives TAA's Norma Hood Award
TAA Webmaster
Tammy Seidick |
TAA Webmaster
Tammy Seidick received the 2006 Norma Hood Award at the TAA Awards
Banquet, held the first night of the TAA Convention in Orlando,
Florida. The Norma Hood Award is given in recognition of the efforts
of a member who, because he or she is away from the limelight,
doesn't often receive the recognition he or she deserves. Seidick
went above and beyond in assisting TAA Executive Director Richard
Hull in creating an online archive and index of all past issue's
of the association's member newsletter, The Academic Author.
back
to top
Create
a collaboration agreement with your co-author
Steve Gillen |
Collaborating
with a co-author on producing a textbook can have many benefits,
said Steve Gillen, a publishing attorney with Greenebaum Doll
& McDonald PLLC. "It can diffuse the burden of a large project;
allow you to draw on each other's strengths; create a broader
appeal for the work; and give you access to a sounding board for
ideas," he said. "On the other hand, the most bitter
troubles and disputes occur between co-authors. Of all disputes,
those between collaborators are the worstSúthey almost
never have a happy ending." One source of trouble is in the
way the Copyright Act deals with co-authorship, said Gillen. "The
default positions stated in the Copyright Act with regard to co-authorship
are often not those that you would provide yourself," he
said. They include:
- Both (or
all) authors have an equal share in ownership, even if you did
90 percent of the work and your co-author did 10 percent. In
the absence of a contrary, express agreement, you will share
ownership and profits 50/50.
- Each author
has an undivided interest in the entire work (i.e., you don't
each own what you wrote, you each co-own the entire work) and
can exploit that work on a non-exclusive basis without the permission
of the co-author.
- To the
extent that the co-author does place the work, he or she has
to share those profits with his or her co-author(s).
"These
problems between co-authors are exacerbated by the provisions
in the contract prepared by the publisher," he said. "The
publisher is not looking out for you. They are not concerned with
resolving issues between co-authors and will sometimes use a conflict
to their benefit." The best way to address these potential
problems, said Gillen, is to work these things out in advance
with a separate collaboration agreement between co-authors.
back
to top
Quotable
Quotes
"Being a prolific
author is not about writing lots of books, it's about keeping
books in print."
— Michael Sullivan, author of more than 87 mathematics
textbooks, 15 of which are currently in print
"There is
nothing in a contract that is not negotiable."
— Steve Gillen, Publishing Attorney, Greenebaum Doll &
McDonald PLLC
"I lecture
around the country from time to time on author-publisher contracts.
On occasion, if I want to emphasize the point about how one-sided
such contracts are, I will employ an assistant to blindfold me,
hand me a black marking pen, and request a standard author-publisher
contract from the audience. With some flair, then run the marking
pen from left to right across page one, dramatically turn to page
two to do the same, and repeat the process on page three. I then
rip off the blindfold, return the contract and declare that I
have significantly improved the contract assuming I did not cross
out the line that gives the author 10 free copies of his or her
own book."
— Michael Lennie, Authoring Attorney and Agent, Lennie
Literary & Authors' Attorneys
"Even
after 30 years in the business, I cannot predict with certainty
what publishers will say yes to. Ask for everything and see what
flies. You don't get what you don't ask for." — Steve
Gillen, Publishing Attorney, Greenebaum Doll & McDonald PLLC
"A well-written
book does not increase your chance of adoptions, but it does help
in gaining adoptions from subsequent editions." Ann McHoes,
co-author of Understanding Operating Systems, winner of a 2006
McGuffey Award
"When
you know you have something completely new, trust your intuition
and vision. Don't get intimidated by apparent obstacles in your
path. Don't be afraid to go to new places." — Barbara
Waxer, author of Internet Surf and Turf - Revealed: The Essential
Guide to Copyright, Fair Use, Finding Media, winner of a 2006
Texty Award
"Stay
out of the university office for writing that you are doing for
royalty income." — Paul Rosenzweig, Consultant, CPA,
Royalty Review, LLC
back
to top
Time management
tips
Karen Timberlake,
author of Basic Chemistry, winner of a 2006 Texty Award:
"I get up early and work weekends. I also take my work with
me everywhere I go and work on it while waiting at the dentist,
etc."
Ann McHoes,
co-author of Understanding Operating Systems, winner of
a 2006 McGuffey Award: "Write every day. Pick up a pen and
get into the habit of writing. Learn about when you are the most
effective writer. I do my editing in the morning when I feel the
freshest and my writing in the afternoon when I feel the most
creative."
back
to top
Tips for
successful authoring
Karen Timberlake,
author of Basic Chemistry, winner of a 2006 Texty Award
shares some tips for successful authoring of a text:
- Listen
to what your students say and don't say. Find out what they
respond to. Use this information to improve your textbook.
- Stay flexible.
There are always going to be issues with your editor or artist,
etc. You will usually get most of what you want in the end.
- Pat yourself
on the back. Reward your efforts.
- Don't try
to turn in a perfect manuscript. It's more important to stay
on schedule.
back
to top
2006
Convention Materials to Download
Click
here
2006
Convention Schedule
Click here
2006
Pre-Convention News
Click here
Conventions
Archive - info on past conventions
Current Convention - news on upcoming
conference
|
