What To Watch For in Textbook Publishing Contracts

Whereas Steve Gillen has seen his share – and more – of book contracts, therefore, he is highly qualified to share his views on the ways authors should approach negotiations and what they should look out for in the fine print there. Over his career advising clients in...

Making Learning Mobile

When students return to campus this fall, chances are good they won’t bring a laptop to class but instead will carry a smartphone. Students and faculty alike are looking to the ubiquitous handhelds to enhance learning. Educator and editor Michael Greer says if we are...

BTB #126: San Antontio: Great Plains and Texas Crossroad

It’s a TAA tradition: Geographer Robert W. Christopherson opens each annual TAA conference with a “geo-primer,” a one-hour crash course on geography and “place.” For this year’s visit to San Antonio, the award-winning geography textbook author explored the city as a...

BTB #119: Textbook 2.0

Amazon’s launch of a “textbook-ready” Kindle aside, the news on technology and textbooks isn’t just about delivering content. Panelists for this year’s TAA Conference – including Roth Wilkofsky, President of the Arts and Sciences Communication, English, and Political...

BTB #111: What To Do When You Don’t Have Time

Are you in charge of your “to-do” lists or are your lists in charge of you? Susan Robison – the “Professor Destressor” – helps her TAA 2009 conference audience unlearn what we’ve all heard about time management and how to apply practices that will increase...

BTB #86: Time For ‘Creative Procrastination’

Prof. Susan Robison, creator of the “Professor Destressor” workshops, tells Chris Kenneally to “give up managing time, we can’t do it anyway – learn to manage task, energy, and attention.” Robison joins TAA members this June at the group’s annual conference and TAA’s...

BTB #77: Want Textbook Success? It’s By Design

Maybe you can’t judge a book by its cover, but the basic rules of marketing dictate that many a book is bought because it looks worth the reading. In fact, advises Robert Christopherson, creator of the leading physical geography texts in the US and Canada, textbook...

BTB #69: KISS: Making the Complex Comprehensible

The Text and Academic Authors Association presented KISS (Keeping It Simple Isn’t Stupid): Making the Complex Comprehensible with Brenda Berube, Professor, Medical Laboratory Science, University of Massachusetts-Dartmouth; Janet Belsky, Professor, Psychology,...

BTB #68: Breaking Writers Block

The Text and Academic Authors Association presented Breaking Writer’s Block: How to overcome the psychological inhibitions that keep you from writing with Dr. Erin Oksol at their annual meeting in June. This podcast focuses on both the possible causes of...