The TAA Conference Committee invites proposals for its 2025 Textbook & Academic Authoring Conference, which will be held online June 6-7. The theme is “The Future is Now.”

Presenting at TAA’s 2025 Conference provides an opportunity to share your knowledge, experiences, and ideas with other textbook authors, academic authors, and industry professionals. We welcome proposals from first-time and veteran presenters! 

The deadline for submitting a proposal is October 13, 2024.

The goal of this year’s program:

• Continue to explore and exchange ideas on the future of authoring and the publishing industry, with special focus on evolving topics like AI, eBooks, and emerging tools.
• Share successful writing tips and strategies to inspire authors to stay on track and complete their writing projects.
• Provide hands-on learning experiences that more deeply explore approaches to writing, project management, and new online tools.
• Promote diversity, equity, and inclusion in academic and educational materials. 

SUBMISSION GUIDELINES

• The deadline for submitting a proposal is October 13, 2024.
• Preference will be given to sessions that incorporate innovative and interactive elements that consider the virtual format. 
• Proposal submitters must supply a 100-word bio and a high-resolution professional, color .png or .jpg photo for each presenter to be used for program publicity.
• Presenters should meet posted dates and deadlines; failure to do so may lead to removal from the program.
• Presentations should not be of a commercial nature.
• Presenters may submit up to two (2) session proposals. If accepted, presenters must register for the conference by February 1, 2025. TAA reserves the right to cancel any sessions whose presenters do not meet this deadline. 
• Presenters receive discounted conference registration. Presenters are not paid.
• Acceptance notifications will be sent by November 8, 2024. All presenters must accept their invitation by December 1, 2024.
• TAA reserves the right to edit session titles and abstracts for the conference website and other publications.
• Sessions will be recorded unless presenter states otherwise. Session abstracts and video recordings (if applicable) will be made available on demand to conference registrants and for access purchase by non-registrants. Authors retain copyright but will be required to sign a release granting nonexclusive publication rights to the conference. 
• Presenters must have a hard-wired Internet connection.
• Presenter registration is $75 (General Attendee Registration is $150).

SESSION TITLE, ABSTRACT, ENGAGEMENT STRATEGIES, TAKEAWAYS

• Session titles should be no more than 12 words and be creative and descriptive. 
• Abstracts will be used as the public description of your session and should encourage people to attend. They should be no more than 150 words.
• Session descriptions should include key session takeaways and the creative ways you will engage participants.

YOUR AUDIENCE

Conference attendees represent a range of professionals at different stages of their careers. The Conference Committee strives to create a balanced program that offers sessions that appeal to one or more of the groups listed below. You will be asked to identify your primary audience when submitting your session proposal.

General. Should be of interest to textbook authors, academic authors, and industry professionals.

Textbook. Focus is given to areas of interest for textbook authors, both novice and veteran.

Academic. Focus is given to areas of interest for academic authors (authors of academic books, scholarly journal articles, published dissertations, etc.), both novice and veteran.

Industry Professional. Focus is given to areas of interest for industry professionals who work with textbook or academic authors, with specific areas of interest for academic writing coaches, editors, and indexers, and how they can better serve these groups.

Novice: Content is designed for aspiring or newly published textbook or academic authors.

Veteran: Focus is given to topics relevant to textbook or academic authors with multiple academic or educational publications or textbooks in multiple editions, or with substantive industry experience.

SPECIFIC AREAS OF FOCUS

For Novice Textbook Authors:

• How to get started
• Finding a publisher
• Writing a proposal
• Negotiating contracts
• Navigating permissions
• Working with editors
• Working with indexers
• Understanding royalty statements
• Working with coauthors
• Designing a textbook
• Marketing and promotion

For Veteran Textbook Authors: 

For Novice Academic Authors:

• Academic writing 101
• Identifying a publisher 
• Understanding impact factors
• Working with reviewers
• Working with DEI reviewers
• Navigating permissions
• Open access
• Revise and resubmit process
• Marketing and promotion

For Veteran Academic Authors: 

• Piracy
• Artificial intelligence
• Open access
• Copyright infringement
• Trends in academic publishing
• Tech tools and resources
• Research
• Productivity
  

Other Topics: Contracts, royalties, open access, self-publishing, textbook proposals, pedagogy, visuals and illustrations, social media for academics, time management and productivity, supplements, marketing, eBooks, grant writing, the business of authoring, collaboration/working with coauthors, succession planning. 

SESSION FORMATS

Pre-recorded Author Talks. A 5-10 Minute Ted-Talk style presentation that gives a quick take on an idea or strategy, demonstrates a concept or template, or is thought-provoking. This format is well-suited for “how-tos” and 101-level education. Presentations can include a PPT or be verbal only, and can demonstrate a concept, template, share an individual strategy, or be thought-provoking. TAA staff will work with you ahead of time to prepare the recording. 

Open Discussion. A moderated open discussion on an industry topic that includes audience involvement. Moderators should have a clear list of discussion points and have either expertise or researched background knowledge of the topic to be able to lead the discussion.

SELECTION PROCESS

QUESTIONS?

Contact Kiley Thornton, Director of Membership & Programs | Kiley.Thornton@TAAonline.net