Textbook & Academic Authors Association

06/02/2026

We asked 2026 Textbook Award winners some questions about their authoring experience. Two respondents, Peter Copeland and Janok Bhattacharya, co-authors of "Earth History: Stories of Our Geological Past (1e)," winner of a 2026 Most Promising New Textbook Award, shared their journey.

We asked 2026 Textbook Award winners some questions about their authoring experience. Two respondents, Peter Copeland and Janok Bhattacharya, co-authors of Earth History: Stories of Our Geological Past (1e), winner of a 2026 Most Promising New Textbook Award shared their journey.

05/29/2026

It's not too late to register for TAA's 2026 Institute for Textbook & Academic Authors on June 12-13. This virtual event is designed to support authors across four experience levels: veteran textbook authors, new and aspiring textbook authors, veteran academic authors, and new and aspiring academic authors.

Your registration includes an opportunity to receive a 1:1 mentoring session with a veteran professional in the textbook and academic publishing community. But don't wait to sign up: The deadline for mentoring is next Friday, June 5!

Each Learning Lab will be followed by a one-hour Conversation Circle/Q&A moderated by the Lab presenter(s), giving you plenty of time to ask questions and connect with your fellow attendees.

The event also features:
✅️ A keynote presentation by futurist Bryan Alexander
✅️ A special session on contracts for textbook authors by attorney Brenda Ulrich
✅️ Guided co-working sessions for focused writing time
✅️ A bookstore where you can feature your books and build your personal library.

TAA Council Elections Information.

05/28/2026

This unique and detailed book by Christine Tulley explores what it takes, hour by hour, to navigate academic motherhood with a rhetoric and composition career. Based on diary time-use analysis, it investigates the intersections between parenting and writing for publication through the lens of disciplinary time constraints like grading and administrative workloads. You'll learn about the support systems and other factors needed to balance motherhood with an academic career.

Check it out, along with many other relevant titles, in the 2026 TAA Institute Bookstore!

Drawing on time use diary analysis, the unique and detailed study in Productivity, Professionalism, and Parenting in Academia: Rhet Comp Moms by Christine Tulley, fills in the larger narrative about what it takes, hour by hour, to navigate academic motherhood with a rhetoric and composition career.....

05/27/2026

Let June be the month you accomplish your academic writing goals! TAA is here to help: Our Month of Motivation program focuses on the two areas that authors tend to struggle with the most—isolation and accountability.

What you'll receive:

📧 Daily email messages containing motivation, encouragement, and resources to advance your writing efforts all month long.
👨‍💻 The opportunity to participate in multiple 30-minute Virtual Writing Accountability Sessions each week.
🗓️ A time tracking template to allow you to log your daily writing progress, review your weekly progress, and track your writing progress over time.

Commit to your success and get your writing projects done!

https://www.taaonline.net/month-of-motivation

05/26/2026

Regardless of your specialty or career level, mentorship matters! When you register for the 2026 TAA Institute on June 12-13, we're providing a valuable opportunity to sign up for a one-on-one 30-minute mentoring session. Act now to save your spot! Sign ups are available on a first come, first served basis through June 5.

You'll get advice and insights from
✍️ veteran textbook and academic authors
👩‍💻 editors,
🙋 writing coaches,
©️ intellectual property attorneys and
📚️ publishers.

TAA Council Elections Information.

05/22/2026

Four dynamic speakers at the upcoming TAA Institute, a two-day virtual learning event taking place June 12 and 13, are featured on the Defend & Publish Podcast. Check out our post for links to interviews with Brenda Ulrich, Dr. Wendy Tietz, Dr. Pat Goodson, and Dr. Greg Lewbart! The post also provides a discount code you can use to get $50 off registration to attend the Institute.

Institute registration also includes a fantastic opportunity to sign up for a one-on-one 30-minute mentoring session with a veteran textbook author or industry professional. Don't sleep on that: The deadline to sign up for a mentor is June 5!

To summarize ...

4️⃣ Podcast guests who are speakers (➕️ many more at Institute)
2️⃣ Days of professional development and networking
1️⃣: 1️⃣ Mentoring opportunities available through June 5!
🥇 Amazing networking and learning event

We hope to see 🫵 there!

Four 2026 TAA Institute for Textbook & Academic Authors presenters have been interviewed on the Defend & Publish podcast. All four will be sharing their expertise in sessions or Learning Labs at this mini-conference, which takes place June 12 and 13, and is aimed at providing both new and veteran te...

05/21/2026

Stay up to date on the latest news impacting the textbook and academic authoring industry. This week's headlines include ...

📰 Institutions Prepare for New Accreditation Regulations
📰 McMahon Tussles With House Democrats at Latest Hearing
📰 Will Paying Reviewers Ease the Peer Review Crisis?
📰 Education Department Launches Hiring Spree In Key Office, Roughly A Year After Mass Layoffs
📰 Arizona Proposals to Ban Diversity Statements and Training Fail to Pass

Check it out!

Stay updated on the latest news, advancements, and changes that are shaping the textbook and academic authoring industry with our bi-weekly Industry News Round-Up. Have an item to share? Email [email protected]. Institutions Prepare for New Accreditation Regulations (May 18, 2026) McMahon....

05/20/2026

When you're earning your PhD, choosing the right dissertation chair (also known as advisor or supervisor) is critical, since that relationship has major ramifications for your dissertation journey and academic career. Dr. Noelle Sterne provides excellent advice for how to make the wisest, most informed decision possible.

By Dr. Noelle Sterne Q: It’s time for me to find a dissertation chair. I’m panicked. How? —Chairless A: You’re right to have at least a little trepidation. Here’s what a new “doctor” said in a study of how the choice and behavior of chairs affect doctoral students’ satisfactions: It ...

05/18/2026

This week's 2026 TAA Institute Bookstore book is "A Neuroarthistory of The Painters of Modern Life: Embodying Baudelairean Modernity," by Lauren S. Weingarden. The author uses a transdisciplinary method that combines art history, literary studies, and neuro-aesthetics to examine the modern urban experience of 19th-century Paris through language and images of fragmentation and transformation.

The volume includes new empirical research conducted in collaboration with neuropsychologists, which tracks present-day viewers’ physical and psychological responses to 19th-century painting and photography, thus providing data to model an experiential aesthetic for Baudelairean modernity.

sing a transdisciplinary method combining art history, literary studies, and neuroaesthetics, A Neuroarthistory of The Painters of Modern Life Embodying Baudelairean Modernity by Lauren S. Weingarden, examines the modern urban experience of nineteenth-century Paris through language and images of fra...

05/15/2026

TAA has developed a position statement to reflect its views on the challenges and risks of generative AI (GenAI) to creators, educators, and learners.

While the technology presents opportunities to enhance teaching, improve accessibility, and support students, it must be implemented thoughtfully. As educators, TAA members have seen the corrosive effects of improper GenAI use on student learning and ethical scholarship.

Sustainable integration requires long-term thinking about intellectual property, contractual clarity, equitable compensation, academic integrity, and the preservation of diverse scholarly voices.

Read the full statement ➡️

The TAA AI Committee, led by Chair Brenda Ulrich, has been working diligently on its three-prong goals of advocacy, education and support to TAA members around the issues that AI, and in particular GenAI and LLMs (Learning Language Models), present in the academic and textbook publishing areas. To t...