|

January
2000
- 2000
TAA LEADERS
- McGraw
offers huge database to profs, students
- Reed
cuts costs for Internet development cash
- Profit
pressure on at Bertelsmann unit
- Georgia
author accepts TAA vice-presidency nod
- HarperCollins:
We're innocent on inside swapping
- Authors
says HarperCollins self-traded their books
- McGraw
sells five printing plants
- New
newsletter issue sent to TAA members
- Math
titles bring TAA E-List to 30
- Distance-learning
programs propagate
- TAA
leaders share personal, association goals
- Thomson
acts on Marriage for attribution lapse
- Text
drops Islam references: "Inadequately cited"
- NetPaper
executive on TAA program
- TAA
news site reports record 629 stories
- College,
el-hi sales remain on roll
- VarsityBooks.com
going for college borrowers
- Membership
push on slow track
- New
TAA recruiting brochures in mail
- TAA
invites write-ins for governing board
- Shipboard
TAA convention remains possibility
- PROFIT
LOSS
- TAA
adjusts budget to address shortfall
- TAA
leaders vote to keep focused
- TAA
authorizes prototype authoring journal
- Academic
Press OKs 4,000 articles for web
- Pynn:
National office staff stable, efficient
- Adam.com
widens outlets with licensing
- TAA
membership losses offset increases
- TAA
holds dues at $60
- TAA
experimenting with regional, campus chapters
- Books24x7.com
bolsters tech titles
- TAA
widens net for out-of-print publishing partners
- American
Education acquires Dolphin software
- Speech
pathology author on TAA ballot
- TAA
considers authors' suit against HarperCollins
- Royalty
auditor: No author has been bounced
- Music
change stymies Norway repro-agency
- TAA
to CCC: Get your facts straight
- Tiptina's
diversion planned at New Orleans convention
- TAA
hopes members shift on-line
- Reed
orders major central-staff reduction
- TAA
seeks multiple out-of-print titles outlets
- Mississippi
plans 2000 el-hi adoptions
- Norway:
Copying of foreign works grows
- North
Carolina editor leaves for Cambridge
- Sociology
society castigated over book mailing
- Oxford
English Dictionary going on-line
- French
e-reader to debut in March
- Several
societies sold lists for eugenics title
- College
site offers BigWord texts
- Kaplan
buys Schweser, to drop Temte name
- Transaction:
Book or ad, what's difference?
- Harper
authors: Inside deals profited News Corp.
- Customizable
textbook-geared study guides coming
- 98
percent of students buy texts on campus
- Two
book execs caught in AOL merger
- Next
TAA newsletter features prolific math author
- Norwegian
reprography mostly of texts, nonfiction
- Education,
reference books continue sales pace
- Publishers
cautioned on e-book pricing
- Scholars:
Bertelsmann indeed had Nazi ties
- Pearson's
U.S. stake gaining market, profits
- Author
scrapping 60,000 copies of own work
- Publishers
adopt standard book-tracking format
- Microsoft
exec: Days of paper books numbered
- Veteran
Cornell Press editor resigns
- Teacher
Channel gathering instructional materials
- TeacherChannel
aims at teachers new to subject
- Besser
findings figure into new text
- TAA
scholarly funding contributes to ad text
- Pearson
to put royalty checks in mail earlier
- Authors:
Publishers dally on royalty checks
- TAA
president applauds Pearson royalty move
2000
TAA LEADERS
PRESIDENT:
Karen Morris (law). Monroe Community College (TAA Council June
1995-June 1998, then vice president June 1998-1999, then president
June 1999-June 2000)
VICE PRESIDENT:
Peggy Stanfield (nutrition and health), College of Southern Idaho
(Vice president June 1997-June 1998, president June 1998-June
1999, vice president and present-elect June 1999-June 2000)
SECRETARY:
Mary Kay Switzer (mass media), California State Polytechnic University
(June 1996-June 1998)
TREASURER:
Mike Sullivan: (math), Chicago State University (June 1995-June
1999)
IMMEDIATE
PAST PRESIDENT: Peggy Stanfield (nutrition and health), College
of Southern Idaho (June 1998-June 1999)
COUNCIL
MEMBER: Donna Besser (public relations), Carbondale, Illinois
(June 1999-June 2002)
COUNCIL
MEMBER: Steve Gillen (law), Frost & Jacobs (June 1997-June
2001)
COUNCIL
MEMBER: Phil Halloran (math), (June 1999-June 2002)
COUNCIL
MEMBER: Dale Layman (anatomy and physiology), Joliet Junior
College (June 1998-June 2000)
COUNCIL
MEMBER: Paul Rosenzweig: Royalty Review Service (June 1996-June
2000)
COUNCIL
MEMBER: Paul Tippens (physics), Southern Polytechnic State
University (June 1997-June 2001)
COUNCIL
MEMBER: John Vivian (journalism), Winona State University
(ex officio as TAA editor, June 1997-)
CONTRACTS
COMMITTEE: Bill Pasewark. (business), chair, Lubbock TX.
EXECUTIVE
DIRECTOR: Ron Pynn (political science), University of North
Dakota
OFFICE
MANAGER: Janet Tucker, University of South Florida-St. Petersburg
TAA EDITOR:
John Vivian: (journalism), Winona State University
NEWSLETTER
EDITOR: Kim Pawlak (journalism), Buffalo City WI
NEWSLETTER
PRODUCTION EDITOR: Paula Heimbecker (academic secretary),
Winona State University
WEB DESIGNER:
Matt Del Vecchio (public relations), Winona State University
ADVISER:
L. Kathy Heilenman (French), University of Iowa (President 1994-1995)
ADVISER:
Mike Keedy (math), Purdue University (TAA founder and president
1985-1991)
ADVISER:
Bill Masterton (chemistry), University of Connecticut (President
1991-1992)
ADVISER:
Ron Pynn (political science), University of North Dakota (President
1992-1993 and 1996-1997)
ADVISER:
Gerald Stone (journalism), Southern Illinois University (President
1995-1996)
ADVISER:
John Vivian (journalism), Winona State University (President 1993-1994)
top
of page for all news
McGraw
offers huge database to profs, students
GUILFORD,
Connecticut, January 2, 2000
-- Textbook publisher Dushkin/McGraw-Hill will give a $25 credit
for adopters and their students to get into the Northern Light
database. The database has 6,000 full-text sources. In all, the
site, four years in the making, has 200 million pages.
top
of page for all news
Reed
cuts costs for Internet development cash
LONDON,
January 2, 2000
-- Troubled Reed Elsevier can save itself with a $325 million
investment in Internet products this year, chief executive Crispin
Davis said. The Internet initiative is crucial for the giant scholarly
journal publisher, which has been considered a vulnerable take-over
target. Davis said most of the $325 million would be generated
internally through layoffs and cost-cutting.
top
of page for all news
Profit
pressure on at Bertelsmann unit
GÜTERSLOH,
Germany, January 2, 2000 --
The German media giant Bertelsmann plans to make its Science+Business
Media unit as profitable as the rest of the company, chief executive
Juergen Richter said. The core of the unit, acquired from Springer
Verlag, had not had profit as a priority when it was under family
ownership, Richter said, adding that that will change. The goal:
Tripling pre-tax profits.
top
of page for all news
Georgia
author accepts TAA vice-presidency nod
TWIN FALLS,
Idaho, January 2, 2000
-- An award-winning physics author, Paul Tippens, accepted nomination
to be Text and Academic Authors vice president and president-elect,
nomination chair Peggy Stanfield said. Tippens has served two
terms on the TAA Council. He is a veteran member of the Southern
Polytechnic State University faculty at Marietta, Georgia. His
college textbook Physics (Glencoe McGraw-Hill) won a TAA
Texty Award for excellence in 1998. He was program chair for the
1999 TAA national convention in Park City, Utah. In this spring's
TAA election, if elected by TAA members, Tippens would become
vice president in June. Then, two years later, if elected again,
he would assume the presidency for a two-year term.
top
of page for all news
HarperCollins:
We're innocent on inside swapping
NEW YORK,
January 2, 2000
-- HarperCollins denied wrong-doing in selling English-language
editions of books to its own subsidiaries at below market rates.
A spokesperson was responding to a class-action suit filed by
authors Ken Englade, a Western historical fiction author, and
Patricia Simpson, a romance writer. The suit addresses a common
publishers' provision that allows books to be sold at separate
rates for international markets. At some publishers, the books
are assigned to other units within the company at low costs that
cut into author royalties.
top
of page for all news
Authors
says HarperCollins self-traded their books
NEW YORK,
January 2, 2000
-- The publishing house HarperCollins denied wrong-doing in a
class action suit alleging that the company sold books to its
own subsidiaries at below-market rates.
HarperCollins
spokesperson Lisa Herlig said that although HarperCollins doesn't
normally comment on pending litigation, in this case the company
would say: "We are vigorously defending the matter and are confident
we will prevail."
The suit was
filed in the state court on November 8 on behalf of Ken Englade,
Patricia Simpson and the thousands of HarperCollins authors could
be affected by the outcome of the case. They are asking for an
order granting them the right to a royalty review and independent
audit of their books.
The plaintiffs
claim that HarperCollins breached its contract with authors by
selling their books to its own related and affiliated publishing
companies "at a considerable discount well below fair market value,
thus earning each author less royalties than is mandated in each
contract." They say HarperCollins has "systematically violated
its contracts with its authors by engaging in self-dealing." According
to the suit, HarperCollins "negotiates with itself" in selling
its authors' books to its affiliated publishing companies in Canada,
New Zealand, Hong Kong, England, Zimbabwe and Australia, among
others. This "self-dealing" the authors say, "causes its authors
to be paid less in royalties than they would otherwise be entitled
if the books would have been sold for distribution to a non-affiliated
company for a fair market price."
The suit asks
the court to allow a class action, to issue a preliminary and
permanent injunction to keep HarperCollins from continuing to
sell books to its subsidiaries at below-market value, and award
plaintiffs and the class compensatory and punitive damages.
Englade, who
has published five Western historical books with HarperCollins,
and Simpson, who has published 10 romance novels with the company,
would not comment on the case.
Textbook authors
could be affected by the outcome of the suit if they had Scott
Foresman titles before the company was sold by HarperCollins to
Addison Wesley Longman, said an industry insider. The sale to
Addison Wesley Longman, now part of Pearson Education, occurred
only a few years back, so those TAA members who had Scott Foresman
titles could share in the eventual settlement.
Jerome Noll,
of Lax and Noll, who represents Englade and Simpson, said other
authors interested in joining the suit should contact him: (212)
818-9150.
top
of page for all news
McGraw
sells five printing plants
NEW YORK,
January 3, 2000
-- Media conglomerate McGraw-Hill sold five printing plants to
Cunningham Graphics of Jersey City, New Jersey. The plants: Dallas,
Texas; Erlanger, Kentucky; Heightstown, New Jersey; Inglewood,
California; and Orlando, Florida.
top
of page for all news
New
newsletter issue sent to TAA members
WINONA,
Minnesota, January 3, 2000
-- The first Academic Author of the millennium was mailed
to Text and Academic Authors members. The newsletter features
Marty Triola, who writes math books, in the Notable Author section.
top
of page for all news
Math
titles bring TAA E-List to 30
CLEVELAND
HEIGHTS, Ohio, January 4, 1999
-- A Case Western Reserve University author, Daniel Solow, posted
two advanced college math titles on the E-List for Books sponsored
by Text and Academic Authors. The six-week-old list, intended
to help TAA members sell works to which they own rights, now has
30 titles.
top
of page for all news
Distance-learning
programs propagate
WASHINGTON,
January 5, 2000
-- The number of distance-education programs in the United States
grew 72 percent to 1,190 from 1995 to 1998, the U.S. Department
of Education said. About 1.6 million students are enrolled, according
to the department.
top
of page for all news
TAA
leaders share personal, association goals
ST. PETERSBURG,
Florida, January 1, 2000
-- As Text and Academic Authors enters the new millennium, here
are some resolutions from the leadership:
Karen Morris,
President: "I plan for TAA to continue to assist authors in all
aspects of their writing endeavors and to help new authors begin
their writing careers. I plan for the organization to be THE source
for information and advice on changes in the writing field prompted
by technology and other marketplace forces. I plan that the benefits
of the organization will be so clear and helpful that membership
will swell."
Lee Mountain,
TAA Council Member: "Tie into the class-action hopes and aspirations
of all textbook authors who have books with copyrights that start
with the numbers '19' -- we need revisions that start with the
numbers '20.'"
Mike Sullivan,
Treasurer: "To do my best to secure additional members for TAA.
To maintain and improve the fiscal integrity of TAA."
Dale Layman,
TAA Council Member: "To gain a higher national and international
profile and recognition as an organization of the highest merit.
I would like to see us gain a reputation as a socially and educationally
pro-active body, in general, that expands our horizons to larger
issues beyond those of just text authors."
Paul Rosenzweig,
TAA Council Member: "As my term as a member of the TAA Council
approaches I hope that TAA continues to prosper and to grow. We
also have to stabilize the funding resources that TAA relies on
to operate."
Paul Tippens,
TAA Council Member: "In the spirit of a new beginning for the
millennium and in recognition of the charitable mood of the holiday
season, I resolve to do what I can to help one of the most neglected
and abused groups of people on this earth -- the 'creators' and
'achievers' of the world. These hardworking, resourceful people
have been relentlessly attacked for years by those who would seek
to use their efforts and to benefit from their genius with no
thought of compensation. Please join me in this effort; find a
rich person, and give them a 'hug.'"
Ron Pynn,
Executive Director: "To increase membership."
Janet Tucker,
Office Manager: "Continue working on improving member services
and providing more and better assistance to members."
Margaret Painter,
Office Assistant: "To become more proficient with the computer."
top
of page for all news
Thomson
acts on Marriage for attribution lapse
BELMONT,
California, January 7, 2000
-- A first-edition marriage textbook criticized for unflattering
references on Islam family life is being revised to eliminate
offensive passages that lack attribution, the Wadsworth publishing
house confirmed. The Council on American-Islamic Relations had
objected to the references. In remaining copies of the first run,
Wadsworth is taping over the offending passages and issuing errata
sheets. One quote to which the Islam group objected, however,
is retained because, said a Wadsworth spokesperson, it is tightly
credited to a source. The authors of the book, Marriage in
the Family: A Brief Introduction, David Knox and Caroline
Schacht of East Carolina University, stand by their original text.
top
of page for all news
Text
drops Islam references: "Inadequately cited"
BELMONT,
California, January 7, 2000
-- A Washington-based Islamic advocacy group persuaded Wadsworth
Publishing to obliterate certain passages in a college textbook
published by its subsidiary Thomson Learning. The passages were
criticized as offensive to Islamics.
The textbook,
Marriage in the Family: A Brief Introduction, by David
Knox and Caroline Schacht, sociology professors at East Carolina
University, had included passages that the Council on American-Islamic
Relations said were not factual. Ibraham Hooper, CAIR's national
communications director, said after a member of the Muslim community
reported the assertions to the Washington office, the Council
contacted the publisher by letter in late October stating why
the passages were offensive and inaccurate.
Hooper called
the statements in the book "ridiculous," including one which read:
"In the presence of others, a wife must not speak to her husband
or stare at him."
"The statements
weren't worthy of reply," said Hooper. "They were so defamatory
that we didn't even want to get into the argument of whether they
were right or wrong." Their problem with the passages, said Hooper,
was the fact that they stated them as facts with no citations
to back them up. "It was deeply offensive to have someone claim
this as a fact," he said.
Thomson spokesperson
Kristen McCarthy said the company agreed that the passage was
not adequately cited. "There was no agreement whether the passage
was right or wrong. The authors stand behind the intent of their
writing." Schacht, one of the co-authors, declined to comment
on the matter.
Wadsworth
has ceased distribution of the textbook, taking all undistributed
books and placing a sticker over offensive passages. An errata
sheet containing changes to the text will be circulated for books
that have already been distributed. New editions will not contain
the excised passage and will contain a new ISBN.
The offensive
passages, stated as fact, were:
- "Modern-day
cross-cultural examples of gender roles include subservient
Hindu and Muslim women."
- "At meals,
a woman eats only after the men have been served."
- "A wife
walking with her husband is expected to follow a few steps behind
him."
One quote
to which CAIR objected was retained: "In Islam, the most male
oriented of the modern religions, a woman is nothing but a vehicle
for producing sons." The quote was attributed by the authors to
Joseph Campbell, author of The Price of Honor.
In a letter
to Wadsworth, Hooper wrote: "I will not dignify these outrageous
and unsourced allegations with a point-by-point rebuttal. The
fact that this anti-Muslim propaganda is targeted at impressionable
students only makes the situation more disturbing."
In a CAIR
press release on the decision, CAIR Board Chairman Omar Ahmad
said: "Wadsworth has taken a courageous step in support of academic
integrity. This action will ensure that objective information
about Islam is presented to students."
top
of page for all news
NetPaper
executive on TAA program
NEW ORLEANS,
Louisiana, January 7, 2000
-- An executive of the new custom book service NetPaper.com, John
Baack, has agreed to serve on a panel of self-publishing at the
Text and Academic Authors national convention. Baack, whose been
in publishing 35 years, is NetPaper's publishing relations director.
top
of page for all news
TAA
news site reports record 629 stories
WINONA,
Minnesota, January 7, 2000
-- Text and Academic Authors' on-line newsletter carried 629 news
items in 1999, a 21.6 percent increase, editor John Vivian said
in a report to the TAA Council. Vivian reported increased emphasis
on academic journals. Also, he said, Kim Pawlak had generated
original coverage unavailable elsewhere. Comments on the Academic
Author, the print newsletter that summarizes on-line content,
has been uniformly favorable, he said.
top
of page for all news
College,
el-hi sales remain on roll
WASHINGTON,
January 7, 2000
-- The book genres in which most text and academic authors write
all experienced sales increases through the first 10 months of
1999, compared to a year earlier, according to a sample by the
Association of American Publishers. The data, below, were drawn
from 99 publishers.
TEXTBOOK
AND ACADEMIC BOOK SALES
THROUGH OCTOBER 1999
From Association of American Publishers compilations
|
| STM
and business |
16.0
percent |
| College |
9.4
percent |
| University
press (hardback) |
8.8
percent |
| El-hi
adoptions |
5.6
percent |
| University
press (paperback) |
2.8
percent |
top
of page for all news
VarsityBooks.com
going for college borrowers
WASHINGTON,
January 8, 2000
-- The battle for on-line textbook sales escalated with a VarsityBooks.com
announcement that its has entered a partnership the college loan
program Sallie Mae. At a special web site, Sallie Mae borrowers
can tap into book discounts. Coupons for other deals can be printed
from the site.
top
of page for all news
Membership
push on slow track
ST. PETERSBURG,
Florida, January 8, 2000
-- The Text and Academic Authors membership drive has had a slow
response, Ron Pynn, executive director, told the association's
governing board. Two new membership brochures and a mailing to
universities to sponsor TAA campus workshops have not generated
the expected response, he said. Membership, meanwhile, has settled
at less than 600.
top
of page for all news
New
TAA recruiting brochures in mail
ST. PETERSBURG,
Florida, January 8, 2000
-- Text and Academic Authors Executive Director Ron Pynn told
the association's governing council that membership continues
to be his top priority. Pynn said the outcome of several membership
initiatives of the past six months, however, have been disappointing.
In early December
1999, headquarters mailed 1,000 new membership brochures to faculty
at random in a test mailing, said Pynn. Only one new member joined.
Also in early
December 1999, he said, headquarters mailed a new workshop brochure
to 100 colleges and universities, targeting 350 provosts, deans
and faculty development officers. It resulted in one phone inquiry.
Pynn sent
a request to all TAA members to send in their tips for successful
authoring for a compilation of authoring tips. Fifty members responded.
Once the monograph was completed, it was included as an incentive
to potential new members and renewing members. Only one former
member rejoined.
In September,
TAA launched a membership campaign called Member-Sponsor-A-Member
Campaign in which members were asked to submit the names of potential
new members in return for a chance to win a free hotel room at
the New Orleans convention in June 2000. For every new member
who joined, the sponsoring member's name would be entered into
the drawing for the free hotel stay. Twelve members responded,
supplying 40 names. No person joined as a result of the solicitations.
The TAA Book
List, an on-line listing of members' books which have either been
self-published or had gone out of print and the rights reverted
back to the author, was launched in November. There are now 32
books on the list.
In November,
headquarters mailed a request to all members to host a breakfast
on their campuses so that TAA could talk about starting campus
chapters. Only one member responded.
top
of page for all news
TAA
invites write-ins for governing board
ST. PETERSBURG,
Florida, January 8, 2000
-- The Text and Academic Authors Nominating Committee recommended
four members for upcoming vacancies on the TAA Council positions.
Committee chair Peggy Stanfield said the ballot will include these
candidates for the Council: visual communication author Chris
Harris, medical terminology author Y.H. Hui, and speech pathology
author Frank Silverman. Physics author Paul Tippens was the ballot
recommendation of the committee for vice president and president-elect.
Stanfield, a nutrition author, is on the ballot for president
as the current vice president and president-elect. Elections are
in April. The two-year terms start in June.
top
of page for all news
Shipboard
TAA convention remains possibility
ST. PETERSBURG,
Florida, January 8, 2000
-- Text and Academic Authors Treasurer Mike Sullivan, who not
only writes textbooks but has a travel agency on the side, was
asked by the TAA Council to find out the cost of having the 2001
convention aboard a cruise ship. Because shipboard facilities
are limited, the usual program of two full days would have to
be cut -- as much as half on a minimum three-day, four-night voyage,
Sullivan said. Estimated member costs for a cruise, said Sullivan:
$150 per person per day. The Council asked Sullivan to scout out
San Antonio, Texas, as an alternate.
top
of page for all news
PROFIT
LOSS
Harcourt
General:
Corporate sales rose 14 percent to $686.3 million in the latest
quarter, compared to a year earlier.
Harcourt
Worldwide STM: Up 32.4 percent to $697.6 million.
Harcourt
Professional Services Group: Up 19.4 percent to $497.6 million.
Harcourt
Education Group: Up 3.2 percent to $581.5 million.
Harcourt
Higher-Ed Group: Up 3.2 percent to $354.8 million.
top
of page for all news
TAA
adjusts budget to address shortfall
ST. PETERSBURG,
Florida, January 8, 2000
-- The Text and Academic Authors Council reduced the association's
budget by $25,000 to offset less-than-expected income from camus
workshops and from repatriated reprography funds. Treasurer Michael
Sullivan likened the adjustments to a mid-course correction. Cut
were the authoring promotion line, $18,000; office equipment expenses,
$4,000; and Academic Author, $3,000. A budget line item was added
for gteh forcoming Journal of Academic Authoring $3,000. The current
budget is now $177,700.
top
of page for all news
TAA
leaders vote to keep focused
ST. PETERSBURG,
Florida, January 8, 2000
-- The TAA Council, which sets Text and Academic Authors policy,
rejected a proposal to widen its scope beyond text and academic
authoring to include educators in general. Council member Dale
Layman had proposed the broader scope. He also proposed a new
international thrust, but fellow Council members felt it would
dilute the association's effectiveness at this point.
top
of page for all news
TAA
authorizes prototype authoring journal
ST. PETERSBURG,
Florida, January 8, 2000
-- The Text and Academic Authors Council, the association's governing
board, approved eliminating two of the 13 print editions of its
monthly newsletter, The Academic Author, to pay for the
start-up costs for a TAA-run on-line Scolarly journal. Cutting
back two issues of The Academic Author, said TAA editor
John Vivian, would free $3,000, the estimated cost of paying for
an editor for the next six months and for a web designer to create
the site. The journal, tentatively called the Journal of Text
and Academic Authoring, would help TAA "live up to its full
name" -- Text and Academic Authors, said Vivian. A committee,
with author Donna Besser in charge, plans unveil a prototype for
the site in June.
top
of page for all news
Academic
Press OKs 4,000 articles for web
NEW YORK,
January 8, 2000
-- Scholarly journal publisher Academic Press, a Harcourt company,
agreed for MediaDNA to offer 4,000 journal articles on the web.
The articles will be at MediaDNA's site (KnowledgeStor.com).
top
of page for all news
Pynn:
National office staff stable, efficient
ST. PETERSBURG,
Florida, January 8, 2000
-- Text and Academic Authors' new on-site executive director,
Ron Pynn, told the TAA Council, said he is extremely pleased with
the staff's ability to run the office. "The office is as stable
and efficient as its ever been," said Pynn, whose TAA membership
goes back to 1986. "Anybody who communicates with headquarters
gets an almost immediate response." The headquarters staff, at
the University of South Florida-St. Petersburg, includes office
manager Janet Tucker and assistant Margaret Painter. Said Pynn:
"Mailings continue to go out in an efficient fashion thanks to
the hard work of Janet and Margaret."
top
of page for all news
Adam.com
widens outlets with licensing
NEW YORK,
January 8, 2000
-- The on-line web company Adam.com licensed its Medical Encyclopedia
to Albertsons/Sav-On Drugs for one year. Other new licenses are
with HealthCentral.com and the federal government.
top
of page for all news
TAA
membership losses offset increases
ST. PETERSBURG,
Florida, January 8, 2000
-- Text and Academic Authors gained 75 new members in the past
six months, said headquarters office manager Janet Tucker. Twenty
people joined by attending a workshop at Lamar University in Texas.
Twenty-five were added through gift memberships. Nine joined after
being mailed invitations. One joined after receiving a copy of
the new TAA brochure. Twenty joined through visits to the TAA
web site. Renewals, said Tucker, have gone down. TAA had 750 members
in June. It now has 562. This is the result, said Tucker, of workshop
participants not renewing their memberships. Other renewals, however,
she said, have been constant. Excluding the workshop non-renewals,
said Tucker, TAA has had a net gain of 40 members. Both web site
memberships and gift memberships have gone up in the last six
months, she said.
top
of page for all news
TAA
holds dues at $60
ST. PETERSBURG,
Florida, January 8, 2000
-- After a discussion about whether dues adversely affect membership,
the Text and Academic Authors Council voted to keep dues at $60
with a special first-year $30 rate. Janet Tucker, office manager,
told the Council that experiments with dues over the years had
found no correlation between dues and new membership and retention.
top
of page for all news
TAA
experimenting with regional, campus chapters
ST. PETERSBURG,
Florida, January 8, 2000
-- The TAA Council authorized experiments to establish regional
chapters. TAA Council member Chris Harris, of Middle Tennessee
State University, and author lawyer Michael Lennie, of San Diego,
California, offered to be the first to form chapters in their
areas. Both said they will keep the Council informed of their
progress. Lennie, who proposed the chapters concept, said the
TAA national office would nurture chapters. He foresees chapters
involving more members directly in authoring issues and strengthening
the association overall. Some other national author organizations,
including the National Writers Union, have regional organizations.
Others, like the Authors Guild, are operate with a centralized
structure, much as has TAA.
top
of page for all news
Books24x7.com
bolsters tech titles
NORWOOD,
Massachusetts, January 8, 2000
-- On-line reference site Books24x7.com will bring its total number
of titles to 800 through a new licensing agreement. The agreement
covers life-long learning publications from Delmar, computer,
engineering and oteher technical titles from Morgan Kaufmann,
and web and graphics titles from Peachpit Press. The subscription-based
24x7 site already carries content from McGraw-Hill, Macmillan,
O'Reilly, Sybex and Wiley.
top
of page for all news
TAA
widens net for out-of-print publishing partners
ST.PETERSBURG,
Florida, January 8, 2000
-- The TAA Council, the governing board of Text and Academic Authors,
asked Council member Steve Gillen to check on new possibilities
to help authors connect with author-friendly publishers to resurrect
out-of-print titles. Gillen's assignment is also create a list
of publishers that are interested in forming non-exclusive collaborative
agreements with TAA. Proposals from Alliance Press of Carrollton,
Texas, and Teacher Channel of Jacksonville, Florida, were discussed
as starting points for out-of-print titles.
top
of page for all news
American
Education acquires Dolphin software
GIBBSBORO,
New Jersey, January 8, 2000 --
The educational software company Dolphin was acquired by American
Education Corp. for $1.8 million. Dolphin chief executive Jeff
Butler said the company will remain in New Jersey but shift its
emphasis to content for American Education. Dolphin already provides
content for McGraw-Hill, Oxford University, and Press Pearson
Education.
top
of page for all news
Speech
pathology author on TAA ballot
TWIN FALLS,
Idaho, January 8, 2000
-- Prolific textbook author Frank Silverman of Greenfield, Wisconsin,
agreed to run for a seat on Text and Academic Authors governing
board, nominations chair Peggy Stanfield announced. Silverman,
who writes in speech pathology, is a veteran TAA Council member
and also a former association president. He is known widely for
his campus authoring workshops, many sponsored by TAA. Several
Silverman books have been on authoring. Stanfield said the ballot
is still taking shape. Earlier, she announced that Paul Tippens
of Southern Poly would be running for vice president and president-elect.
top
of page for all news
TAA
considers authors' suit against HarperCollins
ST. PETERSBURG,
Florida, January 8, 2000
-- The Text and Academic Authors Council appointed a committee
to look into a class action suit brought against HarperCollins
that alleges self-dealing has hurt author royalties. The committee,
made up of TAA President Karen Morris, herself a lawyer, Michael
Lennie, also a lawyer, and John Vivian, a masscom author, are
to contact the plaintiffs' counsel to gain more information about
the suit and perhaps draft a position letter.
top
of page for all news
Royalty
auditor: No author has been bounced
ST. PETERSBURG,
Florida, January 8, 2000
-- The former president of Royalty Review Service, Paul Rosenzweig,
said authors have no reason to fear publisher retribution for
seeking an outside audit of publishers' books. "We've done 300
audits in nine years and no author has been bounced," said Rosenzweig.
He said that a TAA-sponsored royalty audit will be conducted soon
on behalf of one of several applicants.
top
of page for all news
Music
change stymies Norway repro-agency
OSLO, Norway,
January 8, 2000
-- In a change of governments, the Norwegian Ministry of Education
withdrew as a negotiator on reprographic fees with the Kopinor
collection agency. The result: Kopinor collections from schools
for photocopying music may be off 50 percent until negotiations
can be concluded with local and regional authorities. Some local
schools are dragging their feet and some have refused to cooperate
with a survey that's used to calculate charges, Kopinor said.
Kopinor collections for reproduction of U.S. works in Norway is
the largest single source of revenue for several U.S. author groups,
including Text and Academic Authors.
top
of page for all news
TAA
to CCC: Get your facts straight
ST. PETERSBURG,
Florida, January 8, 2000
-- The Text and Academic Authors Council, TAA's governing board,
asked President Karen Morris to write to the Copyright Clearance
Center to clear up a misrepresentation by a CCC executive at an
international conference. At the October IFRRO meeting in Amsterdam,
the No. 2 person at CCC, Dan Gervais, said an offer for Morris
to serve on the CCC board had been turned down. In fact, no such
offer was ever made to Morris specifically, although at a TAA
convention last June, the CCC's Kristen Giordano offered a seat
to any author selected by TAA. The TAA Council decided to turn
Giordano down. The reason: Accepting the offer would not solve
the problem of CCC's lack of elected, equal author representation
on its board of directors. "It would allow CCC to choose the authors,
instead of allowing authors to choose their own representatives,"
said Morris. She said it should be up to the Authors Coalition,
which represents many author groups, to choose author representatives
for the CCC board.
FIRST THINGS
FIRST: An offer by the Copyright Clearance Center to create
a joint Text and Academic Authors-CCC Recruiting brochure was
turned down by the TAA Council. "This is a proposal we would consider
once the issue of author representation has been resolved," said
TAA president Karen Morris."
WHAT'S
WRONG WITH THIS PICTURE
CCC BOARD OF DIRECTORS
|
| Publishers
and users |
Authors |
1.Robert
D. Bovenschulte
American Chemical Society |
1
Janice Hopkins Tanne |
2.
Richard S. Rudick
John Wiley & Sons |
2.Grace
W. Weinstein |
3.Pieter
S.H. Bolman
Academic Press |
3.
Richard Weisgrau
American Society of Media Photographers |
4.
Ina A. Brown-Woodson
AT&T Labs |
|
5.
Stanley N. Katz
Princeton University |
|
6.
Elizabeth St. J. Loker
Washington Post |
|
7.
M. Stuart Lynn
University of California |
|
8.
Michael D. Majcher
Xerox Corporation |
|
9.Barbara
A. Munder
McGraw-Hill |
|
10.Ronald
H. Schlosser
Thomson Financial Services |
|
11.Sanford
G. Thatcher
Pennsylvania State University Press |
|
12.Paul
Warren
Warren Publishing |
|
13.Russell
C. White
Elsevier Science |
|
top
of page for all news
Tiptina's
diversion planned at New Orleans convention
ST. PETERSBURG,
Florida, January 8, 2000
-- Text and Academic Authors 2000 convention participants are
invited to a Friday night party at Tiptina's, a famous New Orleans
restaurant a short distance from La Pavillion Hotel. Convention
program chair Chris Harris, an New Orleans hand, said a 20-plus
item buffet of hot and cold hors d'ourves and top-notch live jazz,
will cost only $35 apiece. Convention dates: June 22-24.
top
of page for all news
TAA
hopes members shift on-line
ST. PETERSBURG,
Florida, January 8, 2000
-- Text and Academic Authors editor John Vivian asked for a poll
to see how many TAA members would prefer to drop their mailed
issues of the Academic Author and rely instead on the more
comprehensive on-line newsletter. The print newsletter, Vivian
said, is "very costly," about $40,000 a year. Some of those funds
could be diverted to other important member services. "Now is
the time to find out how rapidly we can phase down the print newsletter,"
said Vivian. The TAA Council approved Vivian's recommendation
to reduce the number of Academic Author issues this year
from 13 to 11 and save roughly $3,000.
top
of page for all news
Reed
orders major central-staff reduction
LONDON,
January 9, 2000
-- Academic and technical publisher Reed Elsevier will cut 64
central staff members in Amsterdam, London and New York, the financially
challenged company announced. That's about 40 percent.
top
of page for all news
TAA
seeks multiple out-of-print titles outlets
ST.PETERSBURG,
Florida, January 8, 2000
-- Text and Academic Authors Council member Steve Gillen was appointed
to investigate what other authoring organizations are doing to
help authors connect with author-friendly publishers. Gillen's
assigmment, from the TAA Council, is also create a list of publishers
that are interested in forming non-exclusive collaborative agreements
with TAA.
Gillen will
report back to the Council in February. TAA President Karen Morris
asked the Council to respond to Gillen's report and be prepared
to make a decision at the June Council meeting.
The decision
came after a presentation by Alton Peacock, who representing Alliance
Press of Carrollton, Texas. Peacock called for an Alliance-TAA
collaboration for TAA authors. The corroboration would be non-exclusive,
Peacock said. The Council, however, felt it was better to investigate
the practices of several publishers with which TAA could then
give a "stamp of approval" if they were found to be author-friendly.
Council member
Paul Tippens said, as an author, he would like to know that TAA
has its stamp of approval on certain publishers.
Mike Sullivan,
TAA's treasurer, said he is interested in the opportunity that
collaborations would give TAA to try to get authors with out-of
print-books back in print.
top
of page for all news
Mississippi
plans 2000 el-hi adoptions
JACKSON,
Mississippi, January 11, 2000
-- The Mississippi Education Department said it will ask for adoption
proposals in July for el-hi textbooks in these fields:
- Agriculture
(Grades 9-12).
- Cooperative
ed (9-12).
- Driver
ed (9-12).
- Health,
safety and phys ed (K-12 and special ed).
- Marketing
ed (9-12).
- Math (K-12
and special ed).
top
of page for all news
Norway:
Copying of foreign works grows
OSLO, Norway,
January 11, 2000
-- The Norwegian reprograpphic agency, Kopinor, from which Text
and Academic Authors received $80,000 this year, reported new
data used in calculating collections:
- Public:
323,000 employees, 1998; up from 244,000, 1994.
- Public
sector photocopying: 116 pages per employee, 1998, down
from 133, 1994.
- Foreign
material: 13.6 percent, 1998; 11.6 percent, 1994, and 9.1
percent, 1991.
top
of page for all news
North
Carolina editor leaves for Cambridge
SAN FRANCISCO,
California, January 20, 2000
-- The editor at the University of North Carolina Press, Lewis
Bateman, who built a highly regarded list over 22 years, resigned
for a position at Cambridge University Press. Bateman said it
was an opportunity he couldn't pass up. AT North Carolina, he
specialized in the classic, history and political science.
top
of page for all news
Sociology
society castigated over book mailing
HAMPTON,
Virginia, January 11, 2000
-- A Hampton University sociologist, Steven Rosenthal, took the
American Sociological Society to task for renting its member list
to Transaction Publishers to distribute free copies of a eugenics
book he called racist. To say the least, the book, Race, Evolution
and Behavior by J. Philippe Rushton of the University of Western
Ontario, has been controversial. It was an abridged version that
was distributed free this fall. In an e-mail listserv, Rosenthal
urged that Transaction be barred from exhibiting books at ASA
conventions.
top
of page for all news
Oxford
English Dictionary going on-line
LONDON,
January 11, 2000
-- The Oxford English Dictionary, will go on-line in March
with the equivalent of the 20-volume 40,000-page print edition,
Oxford University Press announced. Chief executive John Simpson
said the site will include 1,000 new articles and quarterly updates.
Citations, he said, would be updated continuously. Users will
be issued one-year licenses, he said. Industry observers concluded
that the new Oxford web initiative may mean that the OED
third edition, scheduled for 2010, may be scuttled.
top
of page for all news
French
e-reader to debut in March
PARIS,
January 12, 2000
-- A startup e-book company, Cytale, announced it will unveil
a French e-reader at the Salon du Livre book fair in March. The
device can store 30 500-page books, Cytale said. One-thousand
titles will be available at the start, the company said.
top
of page for all news
Several
societies sold lists for eugenics title
WASHINGTON,
January 12, 2000
-- At least three learned societies leased out their mailing lists
to Transaction Publishers to distribute a mini-edition of a controversial
book that argues race is a factor in human intelligence, the Chronicle
of Higher Education reported. Administrators of the societies,
in anthropology, sociology and psychology, said they had understood
Transaction Publishers wanted to mail an advertisement to members
-- not 30,000 copies of a 108-page mini-version of J. Philippe
Rushton's Race, Evolution and Behavior. The American Sociological
Society called Transaction use of the list "unauthorized."
top
of page for all news
College
site offers BigWord texts
AURORA,
Colorado, January 12, 2000
-- The web site @theU selected
Bigwords.com as its textbook
merchant.
top
of page for all news
Kaplan
buys Schweser, to drop Temte name
IOWA CITY,
Iowa, January 13, 2000
-- The Schweser Study program, which specializes in products for
financial counselors, mostly exam preps, was purchased by Kaplan,
another educational and career services company. Terms were not
announced. Kaplan chief executive Jonathan Grayer said the name
Temte, used for some Schweser products, will be dropped.
Schweser executives are expected to stay in place in La Crosse,
Wisconsin, and in Iowa City.
top
of page for all news
Transaction:
Book or ad, what's difference?
WASHINGTON,
January 14, 2000
-- The editorial director at Transaction Publications, Irv Horowitz,
said the fuss over a free mailing of J. Philippe Rushton's Race,
Evolution and Behavior misses the point. "It's about free
speech," Horowitz said to critics who call the eugenics book racist.
He said most learned societies that rented out member lists for
the Transaction mailing of a 108-page abridged version of the
book had earlier carried advertisements for the original 1995
book. Rhetorically, Horowitz asked: A mailing with a sample from
a book and a mailing with an ad -- what's the difference?
top
of page for all news
Harper
authors: Inside deals profited News Corp.
NEW YORK,
January 15, 2000
-- A law suit against HarperCollins on behalf of thousands of
authors is aimed squarely at News Corp., the giant Australian-based
conglomerate that owns Harper. The suit, filed in a state court,
charges that intra-company book transfers for sales abroad resulted
in lesser royalties for authors. Here's part of the argument:
"In
essence, HarperCollins and its parent company News Corp. sit on
both sides of the bargaining table with News Corp.'s affiliated
publishing companies in negotiations for the sale of HarperCollins'
books, thereby enabling News Corp. and all its related entities
to manipulate negotiations in any way that serve their, and ultimately
News Corp.'s, corporate interests.
"It is in
both HarperCollins and News Corp.'s corporate interest that
its affiliated entities pay less than the fair market price
for the right to sell and/or distribute HarperCollins' books
outside the United States.
"Thus, because
of News Corp.'s vertical integration, News Corp. will keep most
of those revenues within the News Corp. empire in the form of
cost savings and increased profits to the News Corp. distribution
entities and, thus, the corporate bottom line, of both News
Corp. and its affiliated publishing entities, to the detriment
of plaintiffs and the Class."
HARPER
UNITS IN SUIT
The authors
claim self-dealing involving these News Corp. entities and perhaps
others:
- HarperCollins
(Canada)
- HarperCollins
Publishers (New Zealand)
- HarperCollins
Publishers (Hong Kong)
- HarperCollins
Publishers (England)
- HarperCollins
Publishers (Zimbabwe)
- HarperCollins
Publishers (Australia)
top
of page for all news
Customizable
textbook-geared study guides coming
PRINCETON,
New Jersey, January 16, 2000
-- A series of on-line study guides geared to major textbooks
is being put together by Final-exam.com. Publisher Jack Goodman
said access will cost $11.95. Five guides will be on line this
spring, 20 more in the fall, Goodman said. Professors who recommend
the guides to students will be able to add their own content,
he said.
top
of page for all news
98
percent of students buy texts on campus
NEW YORK,
January 16, 2000
-- College students rely heavily on the web for research, but
still prefer campus stores, not the web, for buying textbooks,
a study by Yankelovich Partners found. Ninety-eight percent buy
their textbooks at a bricks-and-mortar campus store, according
to the survey of 2,000-plus students nationwide. On-line research
instead of trips to the library made sense for 93 percent as more
efficient.
top
of page for all news
Two
book execs caught in AOL merger
NEW YORK,
January 17, 2000
-- Two book industry executives have been put in awkward positions
by the $183 billion merger proposed by America Online and Tim
Warner. Thomas Middelhoff of German-based Bertelsmann and Marjorie
Scardino of Britain-based Pearson both are on the AOL board, which,
if the merger goes through, would be calling shots at competitor
Time Warner Books. Middelhoff has been pondering resigning from
the AOL board, according to news reports. For Scardino, conflicts
involve Pearson trade brand Penguin Putnam.
top
of page for all news
Next
TAA newsletter features prolific math author
WINONA,
Minnesota, January 17, 2000
-- The February issue of the Academic Author, the TAA newsletter,
will feature a profile of math author Mike Sullivan, said editor
Kim Pawlak. Sullivan talks about writing, which in retirement
from Chicago State University remains a full-time occupation.
Several Sullivan books are in eighth and ninth editions.
top
of page for all news
Norwegian
reprography mostly of texts, nonfiction
OSLO, Norway,
January 18, 2000
-- Text and non-fiction books continue to be the largest genre
of books photocopied in Norway, the country's reprographic collection
agency, Kopinor, said. A 1998 survey found 37.3 percent of Norwegian
collections are for texts and non-fiction works. Those collections
are the basis of Norwegian repatriation programs to the United
States, much of which is channeled to TAA. Lesser genres in Norwegian
collections: Song books, 22.1 percent; fiction books, 6.2 percent;
newspapers, 5.7 percent.
top
of page for all news
Education,
reference books continue sales pace
WASHINGTON,
January 18, 2000
-- A hot scientific, technical, medical and business segment of
the U.S. book industry remained hot, very hot, through November.
The Association of American Publishers reported sales were up
18 percent through November, compared to a year earlier. The data
were drawn from 94 publishers.
TEXTBOOK
AND ACADEMIC BOOK SALES
THROUGH NOVEMBER 1999
From Association of American Publishers compilations
|
| STM
and business |
18.0
percent |
| College |
10.7percent |
| University
press (hardback) |
6.6
percent |
| University
press (paperback) |
5.0
percent |
| El-hi
adoptions |
4.9
percent |
top
of page for all news
Publishers
cautioned on e-book pricing
BOULDER,
Colorado, January 19, 2000
-- An executive with an e-book supplier to libraries, Woody Palasek,
cautioned publishers against excessive markups on books they make
available for e-readers. Everybody knows e-books are cheaper to
produce and expect prices to be less, said Palasek executive vice
president of net-Library Inc. He also said publishers have less
opportunity on-line to manipulate sales: "Internet sales are not
controlled by the publisher but by the consumer."
top
of page for all news
Scholars:
Bertelsmann indeed had Nazi ties
GÜTERSLOH,
Germany, January 19, 2000 --
The German media giant Bertelsmann, which started with a few religious
titles, was the biggest publisher for the Nazis in the 1930s and
1940s, a team of historians reported. The independent study, funded
by Bertelsmann after news revelations about its role in Nazism,
found no evidence that Bertelsmann had ever tried to hide its
past. The historians noted that Bertelsmann chief executive Heinrich
Mohn contributed funds to the SS.
top
of page for all news
Pearson's
U.S. stake gaining market, profits
LONDON,
January 19, 2000
-- British conglomerate Pearson said its U.S. textbook subsidiaries
are gaining strong market share, assuring that the company will
meet sales and profit projections for the last half of its fiscal
year. Pearson also said that important new revenue will be coming
from high-profit web spin-offs from textbooks and educational
products.
top
of page for all news
Author
scrapping 60,000 copies of own work
LONDON,
Ontario, January 19, 2000
-- The author of Race, Evolution and Behavior J. Philippe
Rushton, said he probably will shred 60,000 remaining copies of
a promotional, abridged version of the book. Rushton had produced
the version and, according to the publisher, Transaction Publications,
had used its name in the copyright and order form without permission.
Transaction said its role was supposed to be only logistical,
such as providing a mailing list. Rushton said the printing and
distribution project was financed by the Pioneer Fund, which has
supported his eugenics work. Pioneer Fund will finance a new version
without the Transaction references, he said.
top
of page for all news
Publishers
adopt standard book-tracking format
WASHINGTON,
January 19, 2000
-- A new system to standardize book promotional and bibliographic
material was unveiled by the Association of American Publishers.
The system is called ONIX, an abbreviation of sorts for the whole
contrived name -- Online Information eXchange. The system is compatible
with an emerging European book reference format. Goal: To help
publishers, wholesalers and retailers talk the same language.
top
of page for all news
Microsoft
exec: Days of paper books numbered
SAN FRANCISCO,
California, January 20, 2000
-- By the year 2020, half of all books will be read in electronic
form, according to a crystal-balling Microsoft executive. Dick
Brass, a vice president, further predicted that paper will no
longer be used for books by 2050.
top
of page for all news
Veteran
Cornell Press editor resigns
SAN FRANCISCO,
California, January 20, 2000
-- The editor at Cornell University Press, Peter Agree, resigned
without explanation after 18 years, surprising colleagues and
authors. It was known he had turned down other job offers to stay
at Cornell. His list includes titles in agriculture, anthropology,
law and U.S. history and politics.
top
of page for all news
|