TAA Member Kevin Patton Shares His TAA Story

I’m a longtime member of the Textbook & Academic Authors Association (TAA). I know you’re busy, but please give me just a few minutes of your valuable time to tell you why I’m so excited about TAA.

TAA has literally saved me many thousands of dollars. Seriously, this is no hyperbole. The lessons I’ve learned from experts in contract law, negotiation, accounting, and other areas have helped me increase my net revenue far beyond “just winging it” on my own. 

Just as importantly, TAA has provided me with priceless advice and mentoring in diverse areas such as effective writing, a productive writing discipline, textbook design, the author’s role in marketing, and cultivating my personal “brand” as a professional academic author. 

Part of that advice comes from the invaluable networking with other textbook authors and authors of scholarly articles, monographs, and dissertations. I can (and have) called upon fellow TAA members to help me in a variety of ways. And they do it enthusiastically! And I’ve done that favor for other members, too. TAA is an informal and supportive mix of prospective writers, new writers, and grizzled veterans like me.

Another part of that advice comes from TAA’s online collection. Let me tell you about a few of my favorites. 

First, there are a lot of templates and samples for both textbook authoring and academic writing that help me get my writing projects started (or finished) on the right track. The "Competitive Grid Template" and the "Textbook Development Tracking Template" shared by Lorraine Papazian Boyce help get me organized before and after a writing project starts. My "Workflow Chart Template" may spark some ideas for tracking your writing project. Academic authors will love the many templates for writing and submitting successful grants. Another set of valuable digital resources are the on-demand presentations. A favorite of mine is Michael Greer’s "Bringing Textbooks to Life: Strategies for Improving Student Engagement." What I learned in this presentation helped me develop a new feature for one of my textbooks that has real potential to improve student learning.

Another favorite is Katie Linder’s 2-part presentation "Promoting Your Scholarship via Podcasting (It’s Easier Than You Think)." I was so inspired by Katie’s presentation that I finally committed to a podcast project I’d been mulling over, The A&P Professor podcast for teachers of human anatomy and physiology (theAPprofessor.org).

I’m just so enthused about TAA’s role in supporting writers in academia that it’s hard not to gush. 

Please take some time to look around and sample the rapidly expanding library of assets offered by TAA. And feel free to contact me directly at [email protected].

Cheers,

Kevin