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 < back to authors list Bill Pasewark Sr.:
After 50 years and 100-plus books, Pasewark still rises early. Many mornings he's in the office by 6 a.m. A child of the Great Depression, he developed a sense of discipline early. Pasewark's dad was jobless, so he knew he had to be self-supporting from the get-go out of high school. When World War II came, the Marine Corps was a logical choice. After the war he earned a doctorate, and he and wife Jean landed at Texas Tech. Ensconced in the groves of academe, he could have eased up. But no. Pasewark began writing as a way to supplement his teaching salary. That's when he began his 6 a.m. writing regimen. It was just not strict hours. The family agreed to a strict household budget, relying on Dad to eventually generate a steady flow of royalties. It worked. Finally he took the plunge, resigned his professorial appointment, and set up shop as a full-time textbook writer. Pasewark exudes a genuine desire to help students learn. A sign hangs on his wall: "Help my students live better lives." It's a continuing reminder that guided Pasewark in teaching and then writing all those business and computer textbooks. "Business courses are still wise choices for every high school and college student because everyone lives in a business-oriented world," said Pasewark. He offers these examples: A physician, a musician, a statistician, or an author, in fact everyone needs to understand accounting (the flow of money in business and personal life); business law (negotiating contracts); finance (banking, how to borrow money, the power of compound interest, investments, and retirement plans); management (people and time); marketing (selling products, services, and yourself), office administration (paperwork efficiency). It was his work ethic, coupled with his insatiable desire to learn and help others to learn, that got Pasewark into teaching and later writing. He taught at Texas Tech for 26 years before leaving in 1982 to pursue full-time writing. In his spare time, if you can imagine that he had any, he serves as an office management consultant and a speaker. He has made speeches on more than 40 college campuses on business, education, managing paperwork, family money matters, leadership, research, entrepreneurship, time management, and writing as a career. Although he's only indirectly teaching these days, Pasewark sees himself as a teacher: "Good textbook writing is good teaching on paper." He talks fondly of where he's taught -- all places that shaped the books he still writes. He values the variety of the schools: A dead-end high school and a large private university in New York City; a large public university in Michigan; a small church-related, girls' school in the South; finally Texas Tech. His greatest career accomplishment? "Writing more than 100 textbooks read by millions of students that have helped them get jobs, earn money, and develop strong families who I hope will become good citizens." His advice: "Love your subject. Love your students. Do your best to bring them together." In 1973 he received the Texas Business Teacher of the Year award. The Texas House of Representatives cited him for contributions as a teacher, author, and volunteer in civic organizations. In 1998, his Microcomputer Applications: Business, Career, Personal and School textbook was adopted by more than 90 percent of Texas high schools for the introductory computer course. Operating his own business and writing about a business consultant, Pasewark's books are loaded with examples, case studies, and applications. The books stand apart in the several crowded fields in which he writes. His mission statement, drafted in the 1960s and still on an office wall, reflects a simultaneous commitment to quality and profit: "To produce books that are Accurate, Realistic, Lively, On Time, and with a Profit." Over the years, the business has become a growing family enterprise. Among co-authors are sons Bill Jr. and Scott. Four other children and their spouses also are co-authors. "We're fortunate to write about business and computers because we try out and incorporate in our actual business the ideas that we develop for our books," Pasewark said. "We write about computers and use computers to write the books. We write about office administration and much of an author's work is office work." Pasewark believes his business and office acumen are major assets for producing so many books. "Authoring textbooks is writing ideas on paper," he said. In earlier years he could type at 80 wpm, dictate at 160 wpm, and write shorthand at about 100 wpm. He can scribble illegibly by pencil at only 27 wpm. "Recording thoughts rapidly on paper helps make writing more effective and gets books out faster than our competitors," he said.
His text, The Office: Procedures and Technology, published in 1994, was 758 pages. After the book was completed, the manuscript folders were placed in a stack -- seven feet high! Pasewark received a 1994 Texty and a McGuffey Award for The Office from Text and Academic Authors, making him the first author to receive both a Texty and a McGuffey for his books. His Microsoft Works 3.0, Tutorial and Applications, Macintosh Version, also won a Texty that year. Bill and Bill, Jr. also won a 2000 Texty for Microsoft Office 2000. In 1996, he received the TAA President's Award for his service to TAA and in 1998, the Keedy Award for service to authors. He was inducted into the TAA Council of Fellows at the 2000 TAA convention.
Asked to give advice for new authors Pasewark points to his mission statement: "Help my students live better lives." "Writing textbooks is one of the few careers through which a common person such as me can positively affect the lives of thousands and thousands of students," he said. His TAA committee on contracts and author-publisher relations created the landmark publication, A Guide To Contracts for Publishing Textbooks in 1996.
He received his bachelor's in business education and administration in 1949; his master's in higher education and guidance in 1950; and his doctorate in business education and administration in 1956 from New York University. — reported by Kim Pawlak, 2000 |
