January
15, 2004
Pynn: Lower Textbook
Costs May Mean Lower Royalties
TAA Executive Director
Ron Pynn said the current push by students, bookstores and lawmakers
for lower textbook prices will likely put pressure on authors to take
lower royalties. "I suspect publishers will look to royalties as an
area for a 'quick fix' to the larger problem of the escalating cost
of books," he said. "I also foresee publishers asking authors to reduce
their income from subsequent editions to keep costs down as books go
into second and third editions." The cost of books is driven, he said,
by four-color printing, expensive "bells and whistles" ancilliaries,
and frequent editions to slow the used book market – basically
publisher complacency issues.
top
of page for all news
Author Speaks
Out On High Cost of Textbooks
Chemistry author
George Odian said he has asked many publishers over the years what the
evidence is that many colors and many pictures really helps students
learn. "The unanimous answer has always been 'we have no such evidence'
followed by 'we have to do it that way because the competition does
it that way,'" he said. A few years ago, he and his coauthor Ira Blei
found it impossible to get the publisher of their introductory chemistry
book to deviate from the same policy. A significant part of the problem,
said Odian, lies with faculty: "What would the average faculty member
say if a book sales rep came into his or her office and said 'we have
a great new book for your students; it's half the price of the competition.
We do have a website with supporting material, but the book itself is
only in black and white and there is no accompanying CD-ROM and no study
guide."
top
of page for all news
Amazon's Program
Frustrates Authors Groups
Amazon.com
recently launched a program that allows visitors to view as much as
20 percent of a book's content online. While most publishers are enthusiastic
about the project, including John Wiley, which has lent a purported
5,000 titles to the project, author's groups vehemently oppose it, citing
concerns over possible piracy or theft. Lilly Ghahremani, a literary
agent and author's attorney with Lennie Literary Agency, said in the
latest issue of End Notes, the agency's e-mail newsletter, that a larger
issue is the program's threat to publisher-author relations, since most
publishers aren't notifying their authors before signing on to the program.
top
of page for all news
Journal Package
Costs Too High Say Universities
Universities are
turning down package deals like scientific journal publisher Reed Elsevier's,
which gives electronic access to all journals in the package, citing
high costs and too many restrictions. Elsevier's package, for example,
doesn't allow users to choose the individual journals that make up the
package. This forces universities to sign up for individual journals,
which costs more, requiring them to cut their e-journal offerings.If
you would like to sound off on this issue, write a column and send it
to Kim Pawlak, Editor at kmpawlak@centurytel.net
Include your name, title, college or university affiliation (if applicable),
phone and email address.
top
of page for all news
Iowa State Press
Now Blackwell Publishing
Iowa State Press
changed its name to Blackwell Publishing, which acquired the Press in
late 2000. The recent name change, according to the company, "reflects
the successful integration of their publishing strategies." Blackwell
publishes books and journals for higher education, research and professional
markets.
top
of page for all news
TAA Seeks Member
Participation for Convention
In addition to many
other fun and informative presentations planned for the April convention,
TAA plans to bring back some of the more popular panels from a few years
ago – the kinds of panels that recognize "the wisdom is in the
audience," i.e., in TAA's own membership.
The KISS (Keeping
it Simple is Smart) panel
The idea behind this one is that when we write our textbooks, we must
explain very complex ideas to non-expert audiences – usually students.
Our TAA peers are also non-experts, for the most part, at least in our
content areas. So why not take some time at the conference to brag a
bit on ourselves by having a few TAA authors do a short (10 minutes
or so each?) presentation based on a readily understandable explanation
from our writing of which we are proud, one that makes a technical or
otherwise complex concept accessible to a lay audience.
Teaching from
our own books
Our pedagogy is almost necessarily different when we teach from our
own textbooks compared to teaching from someone else's book. Indeed,
many TAA authors report that the frustrations they had in teaching from
other texts is one of the motivations they had in taking to pen in the
first place. This panel is an invitation to muse aloud with our peers
about how we have noticed our own teaching changing when our students
are reading our own texts. For example, perhaps we feel freer to use
class time to do an in-depth presentation of just one or two aspects
of a week's subject matter, in that we are confident the major bases
we want covered are already available to our students, in the book.
Or, conversely, perhaps we feel we have stolen some of our own thunder...
that we were more impressive when we could go beyond the (competing)
textbook in the classroom with OUR best material, but now that this
material is already in our book, we have less to say in class. What
are YOUR thoughts? Please consider sharing them with your colleagues
by joining this panel.
The Fill in the
Blank Panel
Here is your invitation to help us fill in the gaps. Are there any other
"wisdom in the audience" panels that you would like to see take place
in April, and in which you would be willing to participate? Any other
ideas of issues where we can all benefit from listening to each other
in a structured way?
Please contact Janet
Tucker at TEXT@tampabay.rr.com
top
of page for all news
TAA Membership
Continues to Grow
At the end of 2003,
TAA boasted 1,279 members. The TAA Executive Committee attributed the
growth to TAA-sponsored authoring workshops; the updated, active web
site; bi-monthly News Alerts; and TAA's efforts to expand services to
members.
top
of page for all news
Give a Gift of
Membership
If you know a colleague
who could benefit from membership in TAA, send them a annual gift membership
for only $15. For more information, contact Janet Tucker at TEXT@tampabay.rr.com
top
of page for all news
TAA Convention
Moves to April
TAA will be holding
its annual convention in April this year. The 2004 Annual Convention
will be held April 2-3, 2004 in St. Petersburg, Florida at the Heritage
Holiday Inn Hotel. For more information or to register, click
here.
top
of page for all news
Deadline Approaching
for TAA Council Nominations
The deadline for
nominations to the TAA Council is February 1. Nominations are needed
for three positions on the Council, vice president, treasurer, and two
council positions. Members may nominate themselves or any other member
for the open positions. Nominations should include a written biographical
statement and a written position statement. The two-year terms start
in June 2004. Officers and council members meet twice a year (in January
and at the annual convention), and officers meet via monthly telephone
conferences. Nominations can be made to the TAA office: (727) 563-0020
or TEXT@tampabay.rr.com
top
of page for all news
E-Newsletter
Provides Authoring Insights
Sign up for Lennie
Literary Agency's free e-newsletter for authors. The bi-monthly e-newsletter,
End Notes, offers expert insight into contract negotiations, tips on
manuscript preparation, self-marketing and more. To be included in the
e-newsletter mailing list, e-mail lilly@lennieliterary.com
top
of page for all news
Make Sure Your
Options Clause Is Author-Friendly
In the September
issue of End Notes, the e-mail newsletter of Lennie Literary Agency,
Lilly Ghahremani, a literary agent and author's attorney from the Agency,
cautioned authors against signing the terms of an option without careful
review of the terms. "On first read, an option clause seems ideal: the
publisher says that they want to reserve the right to purchase your
subsequent work(s)," she said. "For many authors, this is a dream come
true, however, publishers are aware of this excitement and may capitalize
on it by having less than author-friendly terms."
Michael Lennie,
also a literary agent and authoring attorney for Lennie Literary Agency,
said standard option clauses provide that the author will first submit
his or her next work to the publisher, but makes no commitment to publish
it. "Unless you are being additionally and significantly compensated
for the option, you should never agree to such a provision," he said.
If you choose to retain the option clause, said Lennie, make sure you
carefully negotiate the following aspects of it:
- The amount of
time the publisher has to exercise the option. This time should be
narrowly limited, for example, within 30 days of the author's submission
of the proposal with an additional 30 days to reach an agreement of
the contract terms.
- How the proposal
is to be submitted. Authors should not agree to submit a complete
or partial manuscript. Instead the author should only be required
to submit a brief proposal, synopsis or outline.
- The language
limiting when the option may be submitted. There should be no language
limiting when the option should be submitted (e.g., "not sooner than
90 days after the publication of the work.")
- The publisher's
option of the last chance to match the offer of any other publisher.
There should be no provision that allows this.
top
of page for all news
Archive
of Past News
Return to Current News
|
