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April
1999
PROFIT
LOSS
Educational Insights:
Sales rose 21 percent to $39.2 million in the latest year.
Taylor & Francis:
Sales rose 34 percent to $66.3 million, but profits declined 1.3 percent
to $7.5 million.
Thomson:
Profits grew 12 percent to $279 million in the latest quarter.
Wolters Kluwer:
Operational profits rose 19 percent to $346 million in the latest year.
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R.I.P.
Roderick Thorp
Roderick Thorp,
former Yale University Press editor, died April 6 in Franklin, North
Carolina. Among works: Crowell's Handbook of Classical Mythology
(1970). He was 62.
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Summit to handle
AmerEd line
NEW YORK, April
1, 1999
-- Summit Learning, a school distributor, will manage a new internet
catalog and ordering system for American Education Products. The site
will be on-line by June, American Education said.
Link: http://www.summitlearning.com
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Medical journal
says it's Y2K compliant
BOSTON, April
1, 1999
-- The New England Journal of Medicine said all its production
and printing hardware and software is year 2000 compliant, which means
it won't fail when the when 1999 turns into the year 2000. The journal
uses Macintosh computers, said Y2K consultant Marty Slater: "All Macs
are compliant beyond 2000." Added Slater: "We are pretty confident the
system won't go down," said Slater, adding that there's no way anyone
can be sure of 100 percent compliance. "We've done the best we can with
the tools we have." Slater says all the application software is compliant
and four-digit years are being entered in all new inputting. The journal
now is contacting its partners to make sure they are compliant, he said.
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USF textbook
archive growing
ST. PETERSBURG,
Florida, April 1, 1999
-- An additional 38 textbooks have been received at the University of
South Florida-St. Petersburg for the new Text and Academic Authors archive
since the collection's dedication in January. "We encourage members
to send us their texts so the TAA archive will represent an even larger
percentage of the USF library," said Janet Tucker, TAA headquarters
manager. The archive now totals 238 books. Send your submissions to:
Text and Academic Authors, University of South Florida, 140 Seventh
Avenue South, St. Petersburg FL 33701.
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TAA increases
mailings to members
ST. PETERSBURG,
Florida, April 1, 1999
-- Text and Academic Authors has stepped up its mailings to members,
said headquarters manager Janet Tucker, with more than 10 separate mailings
in the last six months. Mailings include: four surveys; convention,
hotel, workshop and airline reservation forms; convention and workshop
invitations; nomination forms for the Council of Fellows; and Texty/McGuffey
nominations information. "We are really trying to immerse all of our
members and the university faculty in the Utah area with information
about the convention," Tucker said. "We are convinced it is going to
be the most informative one TAA has ever had." Besides mailings for
headquarters, TAA members receive the Academic Author newsletter
monthly.
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CCC to explain
trends on author rights
BOSTON, April
1, 1999
-- A panel of representatives from the Copyright Clearance Center will
discuss recent trends in the publishing, selling and marketing of books
with an emphasis on preserving the rights of authors in a Text and Academic
Authors convention panel discussion: "Authors, Publishers, and the Copyright
Clearance Center."
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TAA advertises
for executive director
ST. PETERSBURG,
Florida, April 1, 1999
-- An advertisement for a half-time executive director for Text and
Academic Authors was placed in the St. Petersburg Times with a mid-April
deadline. The position is held on an interim basis by Ron Pynn, who
lives in North Dakota and manages the organization's headquarters at
the University of South Florida-St. Petersburg by remote control. Pynn's
pending retirement from the University of North Dakota prompted TAA's
governing board to redefine the position. The help-wanted advertisement:
Expectations:
Build the association's membership and visibility; manage the affairs
of the association; represent the association at all levels, global,
national and others, including at the USF campus; develop and administer
the TAA budget, in coordination with the association's volunteer treasurer;
supervise staff; coordinate activities of the volunteer TAA Council,
the association's governing board; maintain communication with members.
Salary: $30,000.
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Pearson mum on
S&S sale
NEW YORK, April
1, 1999
-- New textbook-publishing giant Pearson Education is playing close
to the vest on what's to become a 55 titles acquired when it bought
half of Simon & Schuster. The U.S. Justice Department ordered the sale
in the interest of competition, but authors are not being posted on
developments. Said finance author Alan Shapiro: "I have no idea what
is going on." Justice Department investigator John Poole said there's
nothing in the rules says Pearson has to notify authors of the status
of the sale.
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Secret: Who's
buying Simon & Schuster titles
NEW YORK, April
1, 1999
-- As the deadline looms for Pearson to sell the 55 Simon & Schuster
titles, the U.S. Justice Department has ordered sold, authors are still
being kept in the dark about the status of the sale. Teacher education
author Linda Sheffield and international corporate finance author Alan
Shapiro, two of the 55 authors whose books are to be sold, said they
have heard nothing about the sale since November, when Pearson received
conditional Justice Department approval to proceed with the sale.
"I have no idea
what is going on," Shapiro said. "My editor told me he is in the dark
as well, and I have heard from no one, ever, who has anything at all
to do with the sale."
Federal anti-trust
investigator John Poole said there's nothing in Justice Department rules
that says it has to notify authors of the status of the sale. He said
there's also nothing in the judge's decision that says Pearson must
keep authors notified.
According to the
judge's decision, filed November 23, Pearson had five months to complete
the sale of the 55 titles, which ends April 23. A 30-day extension is
possible. Pearson spokesman Susan Stockman said the company doesn't
expect to use an extension. A decision should be reached by mid-April,
she said. Stockman declined to identify the bidders for the 55 titles,
saying it was being kept confidential.
Poole said the sale
was "moving along," and he expected it to be resolved "quite quickly."
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TAA convention
registration picking up
ST. PETERSBURG,
Florida, April 1, 1999
-- The number of registered participants for the Text and Academic Authors
convention in Park City, Utah, is running ahead of earlier years, said
headquarters manager Janet Tucker. Most registrations don't start arriving
until April or May.
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Publishers secretive
on e-royalties
NEW YORK, April
1, 1999
-- Book publishers remained mum about whether they are trying to wring
more profits by squeezing author royalties for electronic spin-offs
of books. Some former Simon & Schuster publishers have been sending
letters to authors to sign addendums to accept a flat 10 percent royalty
on electronic rights, which generally less than the rate in the core
contract. But A&B won't comment about a general contract policy. Nor
McGraw-Hill, John Wiley and other publishers.
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Publishers won't
discuss contract terms
NEW YORK, April
1, 1999
-- Book publishers remain typically mum about whether they are adjusting
contracts to give themselves an advantage in electronic rights -- to
the disadvantage of authors. Some former Simon & Schuster publishers,
including Allyn & Bacon, have been sending letters to authors to sign
addendums to accept a 10 percent royalty on electronic rights, which
generally is less than the rate in the core contract. A&B won't comment
about a general contract policy, pursuing its tactic with authors individually.
Other publishers, including McGraw-Hill and John Wiley, declined to
comment on their electronic rights policies, saying they were "confidential"
and "specific to each author."
Steve Gillen, a
contracts lawyer with Frost & Jacobs in Cincinnati, Ohio, said: "Most
publishers keep their standard royalty rates and policies, form contracts,
and negotiating strategies close to the vest, disclosing them only in
the course of specific negotiations with individual authors. Some of
this information leaks out anecdotally because of the number of deals
that they do, but I think it would be an unusual publisher who would
voluntarily broadcast this information."
Contract terms also
become public whenever an author takes a publisher to court.
Mass communication
author John Vivian, a former TAA president, said publishers should be
embarrassed about their self-serving and confidential ways, especially
when they work against authors. "Just because confidentiality is their
right, doesn't mean that authors should not make these documents available
voluntarily." Vivian and a co-author, Larry Lorenz, are among TAA authors
who have refused to sign the publisher's electronic rights addendum.
Editors at publishing houses are not keen on authors sharing information,
Vivian said, noting his editor was concerned that a contract alert posted
by TAA might make it harder to sign new authors. "Perhaps it will,"
Vivian said, "but our purpose is to improve situations for authors,
not to make things difficult for publishers. All other things being
equal, though, recruiting authors won't be as easy until publishers
give up trying to wring more profits by squeezing authors."
Several TAA members
took umbrage at boiler-plate Simon & Schuster cover letters that accompanied
contract addendums. The letters characterized the addendums as routine
updates, when, in actuality, Vivian said, an author's name on the dotted
line would mean dramatic royalty drops in most cases.
One way, said Gillen,
for authors to find out the terms publishers are offering is to ask
other authors. TAA maintains author experience files with contracts
submitted by members for reference by other members.
The importance of
authors sharing contract information involves more than books. The magazine
Cooking Light recently banned a writer who shared copies of his
freelance contract deal with other writers through the American Society
of Journalists and Authors. Peggy Stanfield, president of TAA, and Ron
Pynn, executive director, called the banishment "unconscionable." In
a formal statement, Stanfield and Pynn said: "It is unconscionable in
this day and age that writers, any writer, should be punished -- lose
part of their livelihood -- for being open and honest in sharing contract
information with others, especially other writers! The Text and Academic
Authors Association strongly condemns the action of Cooking Light
in punishing one of its writers for sharing contract information. This
strikes at the heart of what the magazine purports to be, a marketplace
for ideas!"
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Study: Maine
teachers using fewer texts
PORTLAND, Maine,
April 4, 1999
-- Many Maine reading teachers have shifted from textbooks to children's
literature, a University of Southern Maine survey found. The survey,
tracking teaching preferences over time, found fewer than 50 percent
of the teachers in 1993 used basals for their main text -- compared
to more than 90 percent in 1983.
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Pearson sues
Hicks over sour deal
LONDON, April
4, 1998
-- The media giant Pearson sued a Texas media investment firm for backing
out of a deal to acquire some of the properties that Pearson bought
from Simon & Schuster. The investment firm, Hicks, Muse, Tate & Furst,
had promised $860 million, but said the price was too high after the
S&S units missed profit targets.
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Lawyer, auditor
to discuss publisher mergers
VALLEY CENTER,
California, April 4, 1999
-- Authoring and publishing lawyer Michael Lennie and author royalty
specialist Paul Rosenzweig will discuss pre- and post-merger concerns
and options and accounting and royalty concerns for the new millenium,
with their Text and Academic Authors convention panel discussions: "It's
a Different World Out There!" Megamergers: Pre- and Post-Merger Concerns
and Options" and "An Author's Tale of Merger Madness: Accounting and
Royalty Concerns for the New Millenium."
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TAA explores
author-publisher relations
ST. PETERSBURG,
Florida, April 5, 1999
-- A new survey, this one of author-publisher relations, is being sent
to Text and Academic members. The results will be tallied in time for
presentation at the TAA June convention June in Park City, Utah. Among
questions:
- Have you experienced
improved, deteriorating relations with your publisher over the past
five years, or no change?
- What techniques
have you used to improve author-publisher relationships?
- Has the publisher
been flexible in negotiations and re-negotiating contract terms?
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Thomson ends
multiple pricing
NEW YORK, April
5, 1999
-- Thomson eliminated a multi-tier pricing scheme so college stores,
retailers and distributors all will pay the same for textbooks. The
policy eliminated a 20 percent discount to distributors. Robert Christie,
chief executive, said that distributors were passing on the discount
to on-line retailers, which made for an uneven playing field among retailers.
Christie acknowledged that the change may cut into sales of books from
subsidiaries Brooks/Cole, Course Technology. Heinle & Heinle, South-Western
College, South-Western Educational and Wadsworth. The National Association
of College Stores, whose members were disadvantaged by the prices offered
by on-line retailers, endorsed the Thomson change.
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Morris: What
a second edition should mean
ROCHESTER, New
York, April 5, 1999
-- Hotel and hospitality author Karen Morris will discuss how technology
and niche publishing play a part in writing a second edition, as well
as the special responsibilities and benefits that go along with it,
during a Text and Academic Authors convention presentation, "Writing
the Second Edition and Beyond: How it Differs from the First."
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Arkansas Press
committee sets goals
FAYETTEVILLE,
Arkansas, April 6, 1998
-- The committee searching for a new University of Arkansas Press director
wants poetry to continue as a core subject. Historian Jeannie Whayne,
committee chair, said the Press' national reputation in poetry should
be maintained. Arkansiana should be emphasized, Whayne said. Also, she
said, more general Southern history should be pursued.
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Donna Besser
joins TAA Council ballot
CARBONDALE, Illinois,
April 7, 1999
-- Public relations author and textbook researcher Donna Besser will
be on the ballot for the TAA Council, nominations chair Karen Morris
announced. Besser has been a regularly presenter of her research findings
on textbook at TAA conventions. She holds a doctorate in public relations.
Most recently she has taught at Southern Illinois University-Carbondale.
Besser is at home in the scholarly journals of her field. Her husband
Gerald Stone is a former TAA president.
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How-to session
planned on self-publishing
MILWAUKEE, April
8, 1999
-- Self-publisher Frank Silverman will help authors with the nuts and
bolts of self-publishing with his Text and Academic Author convention
workshop, "Self-Publishing Books and Materials for Students, Academics
and Professionals." Participants of Silverman's three-hour Thursday
evening workshop will learn how to set up a publishing company for less
than $500, prepare camera-ready print and and electronic copy, print
and bind books, how to copyright and register, fill orders, maintain
financial records, market and sell reprint rights. Silverman, immediate
past president of TAA, has been self-publishing educational and professional
books and materials since the 1980s and is in now writing a book on
the topic. Participants must pre-register by May 15. Call TAA headquarters
at (727) 563-0020.
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Arkansas Press
has record sales
FAYETTEVILLE,
Arkansas, April 8, 1998
-- Under pressure to end its drain on university resources, the University
of Arkansas Press scored its strongest sales ever -- $950,000 for the
past year. University President John White had threatened to shut down
the press unless it could break even. Subsidies had been running $250,000
a year
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Reports: Primedia
selling ed units
NEW YORK, April
8, 1999
-- Primedia has hired the investment baking firm Morgan Stanley to sell
its educational subsidiaries, according to the Publishers' Row grapevine.
Chief executive William Reilly declined comment, but he has said in
the past that Primedia would focus on specialized consumer and business
lines. Among suitors, according to grapevine: Houghton Mifflin, Knowledge
Universe, and Tribune.
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Label mixup slows
newsletter
WINONA, Minnesota,
April 9, 1999
-- The April issue of the Academic Author newsletter was shipped
a week late to Text and Academic Authors members because of a mailing
label mix-up, said desktop editor Paula Wiczek. The issue includes a
profile of el-hi history author Joy Hakim. Included are registration
forms for the June convention in Utah.
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Wolters poised
to buy Reed?
AMSTERDAM, April
9, 1999
-- The German publisher Wolters Kluwer, which specializes in academic
works, offered $23.3 billion for Dutch-English publisher Reed Elsevier,
newspapers said. A merger proposal last year was scotched by the European
Union on anti-monopoly grounds. Since then, Reed has run into financial
problems that could ease the regulatory concern.
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TAA president
goes for second term
TWIN FALLS, Idaho,
April 12, 1999
-- Health author Peggy Stanfield, currently president of Text and Academic
Authors, will be on the association's ballot for vice president and
president-elect for next year, said nominations chair Karen Morris.
The odd sequence of president, then vice president and then president
again the next year eases the transition into longer terms approved
in a recent bylaws change. Stanfield said a second term as president
would help her bring new initiatives to fruition.
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TAA executive
job has 25 applicants
ST. PETERSBURG,
Florida, April 12, 1999
-- Twenty-five people applied for the half-time job as Text and Academic
Authors executive director, said search chair John Vivian: "We are overwhelmed
with the interest." The search committee will begin winnowing the candidates
this week, he said. The committee hopes to have the $30,000-a-year,
no benefits, position filled by June 1.
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Houghton buys
Sunburst software firm
NEW YORK, April
13, 1999
-- Publishing company Houghton Mifflin bought software developer Sunburst
Communication for $33.5 million. Sunburst will become part of Houghton
Mifflin Interactive, the company said.
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Merrill litigant
joins TAA ballot
NEW BRITAIN,
Connecticut, April 13, 1999
-- Math textbook author Phil Halloran, known as one of the co-authors
who challenged McGraw-Hill and other publishers that scrapped their
book to reduce competition, will be on the ballot for the TAA Council,
said nominations chair Karen Morris. In the so-called Merrill case,
the co-authors won a $3.2 million settlement -- the largest in history.
Halloran is at Central Connecticut State University. Halloran is the
lead author in a new middle-school math program coming out for 2002.
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TAA installs
own newsletter server
WINONA, Minn.,
April 19, 1999
-- Two Apple G3 computers were rigged as servers for the TAA on-line
newsletter and installed in editor John Vivian's office at Winona State
University. Computer whiz Mike Cavanagh, a mass media author at Winona
State, installed the equipment. Cavanagh said TAA members will find
a smooth transition. The old web address will work until summer, he
said.
The new address:
http://taa.winona.msus.edu/taa Vivian said TAA decided to invest in
its own servers after lapses from the previous service provider: "We'll
save monthly service-provider fees and eventually recover the new equipment's
cost." The computers, one a backup, ran $3,000.
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Arkansas asks
Malley to run press
FAYETTEVILLE,
Arkansas, April 20, 1998
-- The University of Arkansas Press offered publishing consultant Lawrence
Malley the job of director. Malley said he is considering the offer.
He has been the editor in charge at the Duke University and University
of Illinois presses.
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Authors still
in dark on Pearson plan
Lawrence,
Kansas, April 20, 1999
-- Math author Mary Hatfield said she has heard nothing at all about
the status of her text, Mathematics Methods for Elementary and Middle
School, one of 55 titles ordered sold by the U.S. Department of
Justice if Pearson is to continue with its purchase of Simon & Schuster.
"We are totally in the dark, but did get a phone call from the editor
at manuscript," Hatfield said. "We have been in the dark about the sale
and the details of a timeline and are becoming concerned that we are
proceeding with a revision that will not see print."
Hatfield said
the manuscript has been sent to a copy editor, which she fears will
result in a less expensive revision and that the accompanying CD-ROM
that has increased sales tremendously will be cut from production. "Of
course another worry is the marketing plan and how much effort they
will expend into marketing a book since they know it will be sold,"
said Hatfield.
Four other
authors whose books are on the list to be sold are being kept in the
dark as well. Teacher education author Linda Sheffield, international
corporate finance author Alan Shapiro, math author Robert Reys and engineering
author J. David Irwin have also heard nothing.
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Report due on
text-retailing changes
ST. PETERSBURG,
Florida, April 21, 1999
-- The chief staff officer of the National Association of College Stores,
Brian Cartier, said new forms of competition are surfacing in the book
sales industry and the core products are undergoing change at a rapid
pace. Cartier will look at the way new products and services such as
electronic books and online bookstores will change the way bookstores
do business in the new millenium with his Text and Academic Author convention
presentation, "Managing Permanent Whitewater."
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Scholarly presses
trimming pages
PRINCETON, New
Jersey, April 20, 1999
-- Time, economic pressure and a smaller audience in some markets have
led many scholarly publishers to seek smaller manuscripts from authors.
Walter Lippincott, director of Princeton University Press, explains
that the market for scholarly books is becoming smaller and smaller.
"The shrinking of scholarly books is nothing new," Lippincott said.
"Big manuscripts have always been a problem." Big books cost more to
produce.
If a book is to
be big, said Lippincott, it has to have a high price with a large market.
The size of the book, he said, depends on the size of the market, the
type of book it is, and what discipline the subject is. "Some disciplines
are more price sensitive than others," he said. He considers a small
book 100,000 words or less: "Once a book goes over 120,000 words, it's
not so small. If a book is very large, it makes you think more than
once about accepting it."
History author Steve
Ross, whose book, Working Class Hollywood: Silent Film and the Shaping
of Class in America, was published by Princeton in 1998, said he
was given a word limit when he signed the contract for the book. However,
he said, few academics translate words into pages: "You write as many
words as it takes to do the job right." When he sent in the final manuscript,
the production department estimated that it would run in excess of the
agreed contract. He was told to cut the manuscript by about 100 pages.
The reason, said Ross: The cost of paper has risen so dramatically that
extra pages add a great deal of expense to production, especially if
a book is slotted for a trade market. "I managed to cut around 60 to
70 pages," he said. "This was still not enough. I was told that my contract
called for a book of about 384 pages." In order to publish it at the
price of $29.95, Ross agreed to take a lesser royalty.
"I admit, I was
initially miffed about having to cut my manuscript," Ross said. "However,
looking at the book now, I think cutting forced me to sharpen my arguments
and reduce material that while interesting, was not essential. In my
case, a shorter book made for a better book."
European studies
author Tony Judt said the length of his 200-page book, The Burden
of Responsibility: Blum, Camus, Aron and the French Twentieth Century,
published by Chicago University Press, was his choice, not that of the
publisher. "I've never been asked to shorten a book, though, to be fair,
I've never written one that came in at over 380 pages," Judt said. "I'm
agnostic at length -- it depends on the subject, material, etc. -- but
on the whole, shorter books are often better, if only because the capacity
to write briefly and succinctly often corresponds to the ability to
think clearly and to the point."
Theodore Ziolkowski,
author of a 217-page book, The View From the Tower: Origins Of An
Antimodernist Image, published by Princeton University Press, said
he has never felt the slightest pressure from his publishers regarding
length. "The length is determined soley by the requirements of the subject,"
he said. "In the case of my Tower book, I wanted to deal with the poems
they wrote about those towers. A longer book would have been pedantic.
But when I'm dealing with a larger subject, I need more space -- and
more time to write."
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Where will TAA
meet in 2000?
GRAND FORKS,
North Dakota, April 21, 1999
-- The TAA Council, the governing board of Text and Academic Authors,
will consider sites for the 2000 national convention at a June 24 meeting
a day ahead of the Park City convention. Mike Sullivan, the association's
site scout, was asked in January to develop a short list of sites. Ron
Pynn, executive director, said the agenda also includes a report on
the new TAA Council of Fellows.
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TAA executive
directors issues agenda call
GRAND FORKS,
North Dakota, April 21, 1999
-- Ron Pynn, executive director of Text and Academic Authors, issued
a tentative agenda for the next TAA Council meeting. He invited association
members to suggest additional items:
The TAA Council
will meet Wednesday afternoon, June 23, and Thursday morning, June
24. We will start at p.m.
This is a call
for agenda items.
Tentative agenda.
- Introduction
of officers and new Council
- Agenda addition/approval
- Minutes of
January 1999
- Executive Director
search
- Reports
TAA office
Executive Director
Web site/newsletter
- Convention
1999
- Convention
2000
Site
Chair
- Budget for
1999-2000
- Council of
Fellows
- Authors Coalition
- Audit
- Contract survey
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Literary journal
issued by new association
ATHENS, Georgia,
April 25, 1999
-- The Association of Literary Scholars and Critics, a splinter from
the Modern Language Association, launched its new journal, Literary
Imagination. The inaugural issue carries articles, poems, and an
essay on Homer and Virgil. Editor Sarah Spencer said she seeks creative
pieces on classic and modern literature The journal, she said, is distinctive
from MLA's PMLA, whi ch has shifted toward cultural studies.
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Tech prof to
discuss interactive texts
ST. PETERSBURG,
Florida, April 26, 1999
-- Electronic and computer engineering technology professor Scott Tippens,
of Southern Polytechnic University, will address effective strategies
for creating and delivering interactive content and future directions
for electronic publishing, with his Text and Academic Author convention
presentation, "Authoring and Publishing in the Electronic Medium: Meeting
the Expectations of Students and Faculty."
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Primedia selling
education units
NEW YORK, April
26, 1999
-- The publisher Primedia confirmed it is selling some education products
to raise cash, perhaps $500 million, to pare down its debt. On the dock:
Weekly Reader, Facts on File and American Guidance Service.
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Latest TAA workshops
draw 170 enrollees
GRAND FORKS,
North Dakota, April 27, 1999
-- For the second year of its campus workshop program, Text and Academic
Authors conducted authoring sessions on five campuses with 140 enrollees.
Over the two years, enrollment has totaled 350, said Ron Pynn, the association's
executive director. The latest workshops were at the University of Wisconsin-River
Falls, the University of South Florida-Tampa, the University of North
Alabama, California State-Pomona, and the University of Tennessee 'These
workshops have proven very successful as our evaluation sheets demonstrate,"
Pynn said. " Faculty welcome the practical information on proposals,
contracts, and working with publishers."
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Wolters buys
tax newsletter company
NEW YORK, April
27, 1999
-- A German-based global academic and information publisher, Wolters
Kluwer, bought State Tax Institute, which produces tax newsletters from
accountants and other professionals. The acquisition will be folded
into Wolters' CCH business and tax law subsidiary. Terms were not announced.
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Pearson wins
extension to sell titles
WASHINGTON, April
27, 1999
-- U.S. anti-trust investigator John Poole said Pearson Education has
not yet selected a purchaser for the 55 Simon & Schuster titles it must
sell, but, even so, has been given the go-ahead for the final purchase
of Simon & Schuster's technical, professional and educational businesses.
Pearson has been a one-month extension, from April 23 to May 23, to
name the buyer for the titles, but Poole said he expects the sale to
go through within the week.
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Authoring cost-benefit
analysis due
PETERSBURG, Florida,
April 27, 1999
-- Charles Lytle, director of the Biology Outreach Program at North
Carolina State University, will report on the results of a survey into
the costs and benefits of textbook authorship on the careers of college
faculty, with his Text and Academic Author convention presentation,
"Career Implications of Authorship for College Faculty." Lytle surveyed
textbook authors, college administrators and senior faculty members
and found significant variations in the perceived value of textbook
authorship, a lack of uniformity in criteria for promotion and tenure,
and in the operational definition of "scholarship" by the faculty promotion
committees and college administrators.
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Make a few calls,
collect $500 from TAA
GRAND FORKS,
North Dakota, April 28, 1999
-- Text and Academic Authors' executive director called on college-based
member to organize campus authoring workshops -- and earn a $500 honorarium.
:"Now is the time to start planning a TAA workshop on your campus for
1999-2000," Ron Pynn said. The association has developed four workshops:
- Authoring a
Text or Professional Book.
- Negotiating
a Contract.
- Writing a Successful
Book Proposal.
- Self Publishing.
Each is approximately
three hours, so two workshops fit well into a day,. Single sessions
work in an afternoon and morning. "TAA members willing to contact their
campus development office or academic affairs office and help arrange
a workshop are provided a TAA honorarium of $500. You make the contact,
schedule a date, and TAA will take it from there. Help TAA grow into
the new millennium, assist faculty on your campus, and collect $500
as well. Call or e-mail TAA today to work out details."
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