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  < TAA Teleconferences Home Page 2008 Fall Teleconferences:
"Make Your Book Better and Your Sales Bigger with Online Feedback Tools"
"This was a great teleconference and David is truly a wonderful presenter. His vast knowledge can be barely introduced in an hour or so, and yet he conveyed an incredible amount of knowledge and ideas today." "I'm still working on the super suggestions from this conference:)" "I really appreciated D. Brakes session — he was comprehensive, clear, and impactful." About the Presentation If you haven't been asked to take an online survey recently, maybe you've been living in the Peruvian Jungle without Internet access. The fact is it's never been easier to create and launch an online survey. Same goes for other "feedback applications" that help you get inside the heads of your market. The evolving world of social media enables new kinds of relationships with your market. But the tools don't matter if you can't use them strategically and skillfully. In this session David Brake, CEO and founder of Content Connections, a company that specializes in market research, audience analysis, and feedback loops for publishers and authors shows you how to create simple but effective "author-driven" surveys that can be created, managed and launched online. If you would like to learn how to tap into the collective wisdom of your market and establish relationships with potential buyers and adopters, you won't want to miss this session. What You'll Learn:
David Brake is a 22-year veteran of the book publishing industry where he has held sales, marketing, and editorial positions with McGraw-Hill, Prentice Hall, Time Warner and Times Mirror. As an editor and publisher, he has published several best-selling books in the areas of Science, Business, and Information Technology. Founded in 2002, Content Connections is an independent consumer research and consulting company for the book publishing industry. The company specializes in helping authors and publishers identify, augment, and involve a book’s ideal audience prior to publication. Visit the Content Connections website at www.contentconnections.com "How to Craft a Winning Textbook Proposal"
"Mary Ellen really knows her stuff. Excellent teleconference for beginning authors." "I thoroughly enjoyed the presentation. Mary Ellen is certainly very knowledgeable. It was also an added bonus (and real pleasure) to have someone of Robert Christopherson's experience as an author in particular items to consider in a proposal. An author's perspective on this topic was VERY helpful! Thanks for a fantastic presentation...I'm hooked!" Most publishing houses have similar proprietary forms for prospective authors to use in drafting a book proposal. Those forms do not explain, however, the underlying needs and expectations of the publishers or editorial boards that will review your prospectus and decide whether to offer you a textbook contract. This teleconference is designed to explain those needs and expectations and to answer your questions about getting a publisher. First, how can you be sure you are ready to write your proposal? What steps can you take to be ready? What should you include—and not include--in your prospectus? How can you best showcase your credibility, market savvy, competitive edge, content organization, and authorial voice and style? What are some hallmarks of winning proposals? When and to whom should you send your package? How can you be sure you are sending it to the right places? What is the likelihood that your proposal will be accepted? About the Presenter Mary Ellen Lepionka is a developmental editor in higher education and has worked with many major textbook publishers, such as Allyn & Bacon, Prentice Hall, McGraw-Hill, Wiley, Houghton Mifflin, Sage, and others. She is also the founder of Atlantic Path Publishing in Gloucester, MA, and author of Writing and Developing Your College Textbook, second edition (2008) and Writing and Developing College Textbook Supplements (2005). Mary Ellen is a proud member and sponsor of the Text and Academic Authors Association. "Scholarly Writing: Strengthening Your Literature Review"
"The presenters did an excellent job of speaking clearly, and making it easy to follow. You've hosted some very good discussions. Thanks!" "This teleconference was much better than my expectations! The steps and explanations they offered were clear and offered relief because they seem so doable for many kinds of projects and purposes. I would like to pass on this information to my graduate students immediately. Now I know I do not have get bogged down again, nor do my students! I also liked the format for the presentation, and they followed it: They talk, take a break at good spots, ask for questions, and then continue with the next chunk of the process. (I conduct conference calls with my students, and I will follow this format from now on.) I helps to know that this was recorded, and that will be available. ALL of this teleconference is VERY valuable to me, and this info will make my teaching much easier. It's good to know there is still more in their book." "The content was excellent. Thanks to both speakers! The TAA offerings are of great value to me as a beginning academic writer." "I thought the teleconference was excellent and am looking forward to trying this method for the article I'm working on now." "Overall, very good and very useful. Thanks." "Thank you, again, for a fantastic session. It's just what I needed to hear, at just the right time." "Great job. Thanks so much for offering this. It was well done." You've written a literature review before -- perhaps many, many times. But are you happy with the process and results? Most scholars aren't. Perhaps you have a method that works to compile and synthesize the relevant literature, but what you write is a tedious list of studies that readers are likely to skip over. Or perhaps you sit at your desk facing several huge piles of books and several piles of articles asking yourself "How am I supposed to begin to tackle and process all of this material? Isn't there a more useful way to organize a literature review?" Even if you felt like you could get through it, how are you supposed to keep track of everything you read? How will you synthesize it and put it all together? In this teleconference, Foss and Waters will share a method you can use that will make processing and writing your literature efficient and manageable. It is also a method that allows you to make connections among your literature in an original and unique way -- connections that elevate the quality of your thesis, dissertation, or articles. There's an added bonus, too. After you've completed the process, the literature review almost writes itself. Join us for this teleconference, which will cover:
Sonja K. Foss is a professor in the Department of Communication at the University of Colorado Denver. Her research and teaching interests are in contemporary rhetorical theory and criticism, feminist perspectives on communication, the incorporation of marginalized voices into rhetorical theory and practice, and visual rhetoric. She is the author or coauthor of the books Destination Dissertation: A Traveler's Guide to a Done Dissertation, Rhetorical Criticism, Contemporary Perspectives on Rhetoric, Inviting Transformation, Feminist Rhetorical Theories, and Women Speak. Her essays in communication journals have dealt with topics such as invitational rhetoric, agency in the film Run Lola Run, feminine spectatorship in Garrison Keillor's monologues, visual argumentation, and body art. Dr. Foss earned her Ph.D. in communication studies from Northwestern University and previously taught at Ohio State University, the University of Oregon, the University of Denver, Virginia Tech, and Norfolk State University. William Waters is an assistant professor of English at the University of Houston-Downtown. His research and teaching interests are in writing theory and practice, the history of the English language, linguistics, and modern grammar. He is the coauthor of Destination Dissertation: A Traveler's Guide to a Done Dissertation and was the managing editor of La Puerta: A Doorway into the Academy. He also has published several poems in national journals. Dr. Waters earned his Ph.D. in language and linguistics from the University of New Mexico and previously taught at the University of Maine; University College in Galway, Ireland; and Cheongbuk National University in Korea. "Scholarly Publishing: Finding Support Through Peer Mentoring"
Three non-tenured assistant professors in the School of Education at the Twelve of the School's assistant professors joined the group and began At the end of the first year of S.N.A.P., leaders conducted a survey to Seventy-five percent of the group's members said that they met the goals Linda Searby, the project's principal investigator, who wrote a scholarly Learn more about S.N.A.P.: Click here About the Presenter Dr. Linda Searby has been in the field of education for over 25 years. She Dr. Searby is a graduate of Lincoln Christian College (B.A.), Eastern "Tips & Strategies for Successfully Marketing Your Textbook"
It should go without saying that when authors go to all the dedicated time and effort to produce a textbook that they do it with a goal that it will be adopted, read, and provoke learning — a change in behavior in the reader. This requires thought throughout the creative process about sales features, and the author's involvement in marketing and the post-production/sales period. These are areas of publisher responsibility for sure, however, the marketing process requires proactive and aggressive effort on the author's part for complete success. This teleconference will describe some of the strategies authors can use to successfully market their textbook, including sales manual copy, lists of new features, participation in national sales meeting with PowerPoint presentations, an author's blog linked to the text, an interactive web site, listing of author's e-mail address in the Preface, contact with sales reps, copy for ads and fliers, a calendar project, and more. Read an article about a promotional calendar Christopherson created as a supplement to the seventh edition of Geosystems: Click here About the Presenter Robert W. Christopherson is Professor Emeritus of Geography, American River College (1970-2000). He was selected by American River College students as "Teacher of the Year" and received the ARC Patrons Award. He is the author of the leading physical geography texts in the US and Canada all published by Pearson Prentice Hall: He and his nature photographer wife Bobbe' have completed nine expeditions to the Arctic and Antarctic regions since 2003 gathering information and photos for his books: Geosystems, 7/e, © 2009 [Texty winner 1998]; Elemental Geosystems, 5/e, © 2007 [Texty winner 2005]; Geosystems Canadian Edition, 2/e, © 2009; and Applied Geography, 7/e, © 2009. He attended Cal State University-Chico, and Miami University, Oxford, Ohio. His first textbook was published in 1992. His textbooks have received several national textbook awards. Also, he was recognized for excellence in teaching with the 1999 Distinguished Teaching Achievement Award from the National Council for Geographic Education and the Outstanding Educator Award from the California Geographical Society in 1997. TAA presented him with its Presidents' Award in 2005. He has spoken across the US and Canada to hundreds of colleges, groups, and professional meetings. Sign up for this teleconference |
Presented by David Brake, CEO and Founder, Content Connections.
Presented by Mary Ellen Lepionka, Higher Education Developmental Editor, and Founder of Atlantic Path Publishing.
Presented by Dr. Sonja Foss, Professor of Communication, University of Colorado, and Dr. William Waters, an assistant professor of English at the University of Houston-Downtown.
