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October
10, 2007
U.S. Pre-K-12
instructional materials publishing market to surpass $10 billion
by 2010
Fueled by
improvement in the textbook adoption cycle and continued
initiatives by schools to improve instruction and student
achievement, the outlook for the PreK-12 instructional materials
publishing industry in the U.S. is for compound annual growth
of more than 6 percent, reaching $10.22 billion by 2010, according to
new research from media industry forecast and analysis firm Simba Information.
Simba's latest
strategic report, Publishing for the PreK-12 Market, 2007-
2008, examines the dynamic school market and analyzes the changing needs
and opportunities for publishers. Read more at URL
"Publishers
are rethinking their business models and strategies as they confront
changing market forces," said Kathy Mickey, senior analyst/managing
editor of Simba's Education group. "One of the most significant
market forces is customization of learning solutions to fit various
learning needs and styles. Another strong force publishers are grappling
with is how to harness the power of social networking and collaboration
from blogs to wikis."
As
the line is blurring in both the school market and the publishing industry
between what is purely a print product and those that are electronic
only, Simba decided it was imperative to examine the industry
as a whole, so Publishing for the PreK-12 Market, 2007-2008
is the first annual edition that examines the totality of the
industry, while delineating its most important segments.
Among the
fastest-growing segments are video and classroom assessment, each
of which Simba projects will grow about 10% in 2007. Publishing
for the PreK-12 Market, 2007-2008, also contains segment forecast
figures; rankings of leading textbook, supplemental and instructional
software publishers; and comprehensive profiles of 19 leading publishers.
Additional information can be found at http://www.simbainformation.com/pub/1513017.html
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Duke University
to use ebrary to deliver its new e-books
Duke University
Press will use ebrary's platform to host and deliver a new electronic
book product, the e-Duke Scholarly Books Collection. The collection
is due to be fully released in January 2009,
with a pilot program taking place during the 2008 year for a limited
number of library partners. Using the ebrary platform, Duke will
distribute the new collection directly to the academic library
community under a perpetual access model. ebrary is a provider
of electronic content services and technology. Learn more: Download
PDF
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Attend three-day course on textbook effectiveness
The University
of Utrecht (Netherlands) and the University of Stirling (Scotland)
will be holding a three-day course on textbook writing and design
at the University of Utrecht, February 20-22, 2008.
The course,
"Good Books, Bad Books: What makes an effective textbook?", will
include discussions about why textbooks should be evaluated and
what should be evaluated; practical and theoretical approaches;
parallel sessions on the pedagogical approach of textbooks and
evaluating the publisher, and a presentation and summary of conclusions
from those discussions; parallel sessions on selecting and organizing
content and textbooks and the curriculum, and a presentation and
summary of conclusions from those discussions; and a case study
of textbook design and presentation. Course leaders are Arno Reints,
director of CLU, University of Utrecht, The Netherlands, and James
McCall, Centre for Publishing Studies at the University of Stirling.
The conference
fee is 550 Euros ($764.56). For more information on the conference
or to register, email course leader Arno Reints at a.reints@clu.nl
Download
an informational PDF brochure (436 K)
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International
textbook research conference provides opportunity for collaboration
between countries
TAA Associate
Executive Director Kim Pawlak (center), with 2007 IARTEM conference
organizers Susanne V. Knudsen (left), and Bente Aamotsbakken
(right). Pawlak attended IARTEM's Ninth International Conference
on Textbooks and Educational Media in Tonsberg, Norway, September
5-8. |
Forty-three
presenters from 27 different countries shared their textbook research
with an audience of 90 participants from 40 different countries
at the International Association for Research on Textbooks and
Educational Media's Ninth International Conference on Textbooks
and Educational Media in Tonsberg, Norway, September 5-8, 2007.
The presenters,
from Norway, Western Balkan and Slovenia, Iceland, Lithuania,
Australia, Denmark, Spain, Estonia, Pretoria, India, Madagascar,
Palestine, Japan, Turkey, Hungary, Serbia, Korea, Great Britain,
Scotland, Israel, Czech Republic, France, Portugal, Sweden, Austria,
and Kenya, shared a variety of research articles on topics such
as issues of gender equality in textbooks; the textbook selection
and evaluation process in Western Balkan and Slovenia, South Africa,
Norway, Hungary, and Serbia; ageism in textbooks; the importance
of illustrations in learning; whether print or electronic materials
were more effective in teaching; and the process of textbook production;
all based around the theme of "Peace, democratization and reconciliation
in textbooks and educational media."
(To view
the conference program, click
here)
|
International
organizations that are interested in, or participate in,
textbook research:
European
Educational Publishers Group (EEPG)
Visit web
site
TREAT,
Teaching Resources and Textbook Research Unit, University
of Sydney, Faculty of Education
Visit
web site
United
Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization
(UNESCO)
Visit
web site
Download
a UNESCO brochure
University
of Utrecht, the Netherlands, Centre of Curriculum Studies
CLU
Dr. Arno Reints, CLU Director
A.Reints@clu.nl
International
Association of Research on Textbooks and Educational Media
(IARTEM)
Visit web
site
Japan
Textbook Research Center
Visit
web site
|
The 43 conference
sessions were organized into four workshops: 1) The Balance Between
Textbooks and Educational Media; 2) The Use of Textbooks and Educational
Media; 3) Approval, Selection and Language Policy in Textbooks
and Educational Media; and 4) Learning from Texts and Images in
Textbooks and Educational Media.
In his opening
address, Petter Aasen, head master of Vestfold University College,
which hosted the conference, said that contact across international
borders in the area of organizational research into pedagogical
texts was important to the advancement of academic scholarship.
The purpose
of the conference, he said, was to get a better idea of the textbook
policies of other countries and the different forms of funding
high quality research, with the hope that the conference could
provide initiatives and play a part in international collaboration
and collaboration at the institutional level.
Many of the
countries represented at the conference do not have any government
or state guidelines for textbook content, approval or selection.
During a publisher's panel presentation on Thursday, September
6, James McCall, deputy director of the Stirling International
Publishing Unit, a center for publishing studies within Stirling
University (Scotland), said that the content of the country's
curriculum is what drives publishers and editors in what they
will instruct their textbook authors to write. State standards,
he said, play no role in publishing: "State standards for books
are created by individuals who believe that the books will sell
at the right time to the right reader. We believe that the best
kind of book combines the worldview of the author, teacher, publisher
and reader. The textbook is only as good as the teacher in whose
hand it is placed. Publishers will continue to create textbooks
based on that type of syllabus and according to social norms."
McCall also serves on the IARTEM board.
Mike Horsley,
senior lecturer in the School of Professional Studies at the University
of Sydney, Australia, said in his country, publishers sell books
they think will sell, and schools openly purchase textbooks with
no government control or adoption system. "Curriculum drives most
publishing decisions in the open market," said Horsley. "Publishing
decisions are state-based, not national." Pedagogy is based on
a national project, "Discovering Democracy," he said, which is
about empowering people to be responsible and participate. Horsley
is also vice president of the IARTEM board.
A presentation
by Zusana Sikorova from the University of Ostrava (Czech Republic)
on "Textbook-Based Activities in the Classroom," shared the results
of a survey of four primary and lower secondary schools and three
higher secondary schools that was conducted to determine how often
textbook materials were used in the classroom. She found that
textbook materials were used in 75 percent of lessons, and students
spent 25 percent of their total classroom time engaged in textbook
based activities.
A presentation
by Mu'men Al-Badarin, assistant professor of Arabic Studies at
Bethlehem University (Palestine), and Eva Maagero (Norway) shared
the results of a comparative analysis of Palestinian and Norwegian
textbooks. The Arabic textbooks used the pronoun "we" and had
mainly masculine representations. The Norwegian textbooks used
the pronoun "you" to personalize the text and create a more personal
relationship between the textbook and the reader. Gender representations
were much more balanced in the Norwegian textbook in both the
representations of girls and boys and the choice of authors and
pictures, and different minority groups. The Norwegian textbooks,
said Maagero, allow boys and girls to identify with the textbook,
showing that both can do the same activities. However, the minority
boys and girls depicted in the textbook were shown in a Norwegian
context.
Per Jarle
Sætre from Sogn og Fjordane University College (Norway),
shared the temporary results of his research of gender representations
in illustrations in geography textbooks in Norway, Sweden, Denmark,
and Finland, which found that most of them were gender biased.
His research included a content analysis of photos in seven series
of geography textbooks for lower secondary schools (13-16-year-olds).
"In the seven textbook series there are a total of 3,683 illustrations,
1,995 of which are photos, and 833 of those are photos of people,"
he said. "Of the 833 photos of people, in 687 of them I can see
men, women, or men and women (the rest are unidentifiable). I
divided the people into six categories, work being the most important
category." Sætre found that men dominate the pictures, and
that most series write about women's contribution to subsidence
agriculture in developing countries, and few series write about
women's contribution to agriculture in industrial countries. Women
are depicted as producing goods at the production line while men
do trades and more self-reliant work. Photos of women at leisure
and at home are more frequent, he found, and most of are of women
doing domestic work.
"The use
of motive and gender on photos in the textbooks can bias the represented
content," says Sætre. "Most of the authors focused on motive
not on gender. Just one book, the Norwegian Undervegs,
seems to have a reflected use of gender on the photos, and that
may be because it was written by one man and one woman. Feminist
geographers claim geography excludes women as producers of knowledge
and women's issues as objects of knowledge. My study can indicate
such a description could also be applied to geography textbooks."
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TAA to
prepare contract negotiation guide
To help its
members negotiate author-friendly textbook and academic book contracts,
TAA is planning to prepare a contract negotiation guide that points
out the clauses within publishers' standard contracts that are
not favorable to authors and why. To accomplish this, TAA needs
its members to send in copies of their publisher's standard contract.
Black out the names, titles, advances, dates, and any specially
negotiated rates or terms before sending a copy of your contract.
Do not send contracts that include confidentiality provisions
barring disclosure of the contract. Copies can be sent electronically
or print to Richard Hull, TAA's Executive Director, rthull62@hotmail.com
or 3241 Heather Hill Lane, Tallahassee, FL 32309-2307.
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Check your
royalty statements for treatment of custom-published books
TAA has learned
that at least one publisher is now classifying all custom published
books as "abridgements," a practice that decreases the royalty
amount paid to the author because in this publisher's standard
contract "abridgements" earn a flat 5 percent royalty. Frequently,
publishers pay authors a pro rata share of the royalty for custom-published
books based on the number of pages used in the custom published
version of the book. For example, if a publisher uses 80 percent
of the full version of the book, the author should receive 80
percent of their normal royalty for domestic sales. If an author
is paid a 15 percent royalty, the author should get a royalty
of 12 percent (80 percent x 15 percent = 12 percent). But by now
calling all custom published books "abridgements," this publisher
is only paying the five percent royalty for "abridgements" called
for in their standard contract. TAA would like to know if this
practice is widespread or that of only one publisher. If you suspect
that your standard publishing contract classifies custom published
books as "abridgements" for the purpose of manipulating the royalty
to an inappropriately low rate, please send a copy of your contract
to TAA Executive Director Richard Hull at rthull62@hotmail.com
or 3241 Heather Hill Lane, Tallahassee, FL 32309-2307. Before
sending a copy of your contract, black out the names, titles,
advances, dates, and any specially negotiated rates or terms before
sending a copy of your contract. Do not send contracts that include
confidentiality provisions barring disclosure of the contract.
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TAA announces
August member survey winner
In the August
2007 issue of "The Academic Author" we asked our members to take
the time to fill out a member survey about key TAA member benefits.
We wanted to know which benefits our members found most useful,
and which benefits we should consider adding. The names of those
members who submitted surveys were entered into a drawing for
an iPod Shuffle.
TAA member
Jill Heney was the lucky winner. Heney, a TAA member for eight
months who joined through a TAA-sponsored workshop by Tara Gray,
said she found the TAA News Alerts, expert advice, contract assistance,
and TAA Listserv to be the most helpful TAA benefits. She also
said she would like to see TAA add a mentoring program (which
we have). In the comments section of her survey response, Heney
wrote: "The listserv has been really educating me about the ins
and outs of publishing. Excellent."
Heney is an
adjunct faculty member in the English Department at Boise State
University and teaches composition and American literature. Her
comments on winning the drawing for the iPod Shuffle:
"Wow! Thanks so much--to you and to everyone at TAA!" Said Heney:
"Attending Dr. Gray's [Tara Gray's "Publish & Flourish: Become
A Prolific Scholar"] workshop earlier this year was a great experience,
and her suggestions have helped not only my work but the work
of my students. Just this semester in my nonfiction writing class,
a student shared her angst over not finding time for what she
really wants to do: write! The class rallied with suggestions,
and I was able to relate how faculty members experience similar
dilemmas with time management. It was a great moment to introduce
the tips and scholarship of Tara Gray, Robert Boice, and others.
I shared how the 15-30-minute writing approach has worked well
for me in my own creative nonfiction work and new forays into
screenwriting. That approach also kept the momentum going during
a multimedia grant project I worked on over the summer. The information
TAA provides about authors' rights is important and needed, as
a colleague of mine and I experienced when we proposed multimedia
work to a publisher earlier this year. Through my TAA membership,
I definitely hope to gain even more insight into this area."
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Bookstore
selling instructor's copies to students backs down
TAA member
Frank Wilson recently discovered that his college bookstore was
selling the instructor's copy of his Brief Applied Calculus
textbook as a student version by placing black tape all over the
cover to hide the fact that it was an instructor's version (instructor's
versions have "not for sale" and "Instructor's Copy" written all
over them). They then put a sticker with the student version ISBN
on the masked instructor's version and sold it as a used student
version of the text.
"In short,
they were selling a disguised instructor's copy under the ISBN
for the student text," says Wilson. "From my point of view, this
is at best, unethical, and at worst, illegal." His first communication
with the store's book buyer didn't correct the matter.
After discussing
this issue with other TAA members on the association's Listserv,
Wilson continued to pursue the matter with a satisfactory result.
"Once the bookstore realized that I was not going walk away from
this issue, they became more cooperative," he says. "They have
agreed to replace all of the instructor's copies that they sold
with NEW legitimate student copies. They will give the students
two weeks to exchange the review copies for the new books."
Throughout
the resolution process, Wilson kept his publisher informed and
requested that they weigh in on the matter. After Wilson and the
bookstore had negotiated an agreement, the publisher sent a memo
to the bookstore thanking them for their cooperation in resolving
the issue and informing the bookstore that they had challenged
the practice of selling complimentary copies in the past. "I wanted
the bookstore to know that the publisher knew about the situation,"
Wilson said.
Said TAA
Executive Director Richard Hull: "This practice [of selling instructor's
copies] takes money out of the publisher's pocket and the author's pocket
and puts it all in the pocket of the bookstore or the book reseller. This
is a perfect example of why we shouldn't sell our desk copies,
and why we shouldn't buy used books that are currently in
print."
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Reminder:
Renew your TAA membership
Renewing your
TAA membership after receiving the first renewal letter helps
save TAA time and money in sending additional renewal notices.
That money can be put to better use in increasing member benefits
and services. Either dig your renewal notice out and mail it in,
or renew online using TAA's secure online renewal form: Click
here
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Deadline
for Texty, McGuffey Nominations October 15
Ask your
publisher to nominate your book for a 2008 Textbook Excellence
Award or McGuffey Longevity Award. Textbook Excellence Awards
(or "Textys") recognize current textbooks and learning materials
that demonstrate excellence based on four criteria: interesting
and informative; well organized and well prepared; up to date
and appealing; and teachability. McGuffey Longevity Awards (or
"McGuffeys") recognize textbooks and learning materials whose
excellence has been demonstrated over time.
Texty and
McGuffey entries must be officially nominated by publishers, but
authors can ask publishers to nominate their book. Authors do
not need to be members of TAA.
Nomination
PDF forms for 2008 Texty and McGuffey Awards:
Texty Awards
McGuffey Awards
The deadline
for sending nomination forms and fees for the 2008 Texty and McGuffey
Awards is October 15, 2007. The deadline to receive the books
for judging purposes is November 15, 2007. These deadlines are
flexible according to publication dates. Contact TAA headquarters
if you need more time: (727) 563-0020 or TEXT@tampabay.rr.com
Learn more
about TAA's Texty and McGuffey Awards: Click
here
Read about TAA's 2007 Texty and McGuffey Award winners: Click
here
** Click
here for 2007 award winners' comments on winning **
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Check out
TAA's new Mentor-a-Member program
Find a mentor
by browsing TAA's online directory of mentors by name or field:
Click here
To become
a TAA mentor, fill out the online form: Click
here
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TAA welcomes
new members
Rita Amadi,
Anne Applin, Barbara Audet, Gideon Bahn, Srijana Bajracharya,
Raymond Benton, Jr., Elizabeth Bleicher, Angela Branneman, Kristie
Brendel, Edmund Bernard Bruyere, Jr., Anthony Burrow, Darius Conger,
Colleen Conley, Phoebe Constantinou, Brenda Crawley, Carole Dennis,
Dennis Dew, Trisha M. Dunkel, Courtney Dwyer, David Franczyk,
Brad Fruhauff, Pamela Geddes, Jaime Gelabert, Jennifer Germann,
John Ginsberg-Stevens, Jona Goldschmidt, Judith Gonyea, Belisa
Gonzalez, Olympia B. Gonzalez, James Gray, Kim Gregson, James
Harrington, Betsy J. Hemenway, Marcia Hermansen, John D. Hill,
Cynthia Ho, Janet Hunting, Anisa Hussain, Joanne Izbicki, Howard
Kalman, Kevin Kaufmann, Dan Larkin, Christine P. Li-Grining, Kristina
Lind, Robart Lombardo, Robin Mallett, Christopher Manning, Brandy
Maynard, Ruanda Garth McCullough, Mary Ann McDermott, Susanne
Morgan, Kathleen Mulligan, Mousumi Mukherjee, Kathryn Nyman, Kwasi
Opoku-Amankwa, Lisa Paciulli, Tatiana Patrone, Rebecca Plante,
Louise R. Presley, Catherine Putonti, Hannah Rockwell, Victoria
L. Russo, Karen Saban, Dow Scott, Kim Searcy, Peggy Seow, Singh
Shweta, Peter Silberman, Patricia Spencer, Susan Stempleski, Nancy
Tuchman, Albert W. Vogt, III, Rachel Wagner, Andrea Winkelmann,
and Timothy J. Yoder.
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Sustaining
members
The following
TAA members renewed at the Sustaining Member level: Janet Belsky
and Steven Barkan
TAA gift
memberships
TAA member
Janet Belsky gave a gift membership to Will Langston. TAA member
Gregory Lewbart gave a gift membership to Douglas Mader. TAA Council
member Don Collins gave a gift membership to Matthew Winsor.
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