A problem here is that if you write a textbook for your students to use, your publisher will very likely require you to make your students buy it, at least during the first few years. Once your book becomes a big seller, maybe they'll drop this requirement, but I'm not holding my breath for mine.
If you expect me to give away my textbook, that's 5+ years of labor on my part. Thanks a lot.
This isn't the only reason my textbook has shown me how my grandfather Viktor felt, with his monster at his throat. It's also why you haven't heard much from me lately.
Yeah, profs who write textbooks seem to get screwed enough as is.
I have no idea where it works elsewhere, but one of my professors bemoaned A: How little money professors got from textbooks and B: that my university's publishing policy basically incentivized you to not write textbooks.
The policy is that, based on your seniority and number of classes you teach, you have to publish X THINGS in a given time frame. Publish an article? Great, that's a thing. A journal? That's a thing also. A textbook? Congratulations, that's also ONE thing.
Old timers spin yarns about the days when editorials counted as "things".
Hahahaha there should be pages like College Misery where 90% of the audience is made up of professors, but just for everything. Like automobiles, literature, video games. Everything. Because I've never seen a site in my life with wittier, more wry comments.
My first book was a textbook. It was the only that ever made any real spending money, but it did absolutely nothing for my career.
In fact, in the first year of publication I couldn't even use it in my own classes because it had not been vetted by my nemeses on the textbook committee. That it was a "brief" rhetoric and readable suggested that our decidedly middle of the road students should be made to stoop to its level.
That it got used at 100 other colleges gave me some solace.
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To what extent is the book really banned from your classes? If you cannot assign it as the main textbook, can't you simply refrain from doing so and teach the material in class anyway? Naturally, you would not actually keep the source secret, and students would be free to get it if they so choose. Only, the book would not be the official textbook, or not the main one.
Thank you Monica. I did use the same theories mostly but was indeed required to assign work from an approved text. It was 25 years ago and I am only a little bitter still. Lol.
A problem here is that if you write a textbook for your students to use, your publisher will very likely require you to make your students buy it, at least during the first few years. Once your book becomes a big seller, maybe they'll drop this requirement, but I'm not holding my breath for mine.
ReplyDeleteIf you expect me to give away my textbook, that's 5+ years of labor on my part. Thanks a lot.
This isn't the only reason my textbook has shown me how my grandfather Viktor felt, with his monster at his throat. It's also why you haven't heard much from me lately.
Yeah, profs who write textbooks seem to get screwed enough as is.
DeleteI have no idea where it works elsewhere, but one of my professors bemoaned A: How little money professors got from textbooks and B: that my university's publishing policy basically incentivized you to not write textbooks.
The policy is that, based on your seniority and number of classes you teach, you have to publish X THINGS in a given time frame. Publish an article? Great, that's a thing. A journal? That's a thing also. A textbook? Congratulations, that's also ONE thing.
Old timers spin yarns about the days when editorials counted as "things".
It's scholarship that counts. Isn't it?
DeleteHahahaha there should be pages like College Misery where 90% of the audience is made up of professors, but just for everything. Like automobiles, literature, video games. Everything. Because I've never seen a site in my life with wittier, more wry comments.
DeleteThis was perfect.
Testing comments. Getting reports.
ReplyDeleteMy first book was a textbook. It was the only that ever made any real spending money, but it did absolutely nothing for my career.
ReplyDeleteIn fact, in the first year of publication I couldn't even use it in my own classes because it had not been vetted by my nemeses on the textbook committee. That it was a "brief" rhetoric and readable suggested that our decidedly middle of the road students should be made to stoop to its level.
That it got used at 100 other colleges gave me some solace.
A veteran of this page.
If you can't comment, try sending me the comment and the post you want it under. Things seem to be not working under any setting other than being fully logged in.
DeleteCrystal
To what extent is the book really banned from your classes? If you cannot assign it as the main textbook, can't you simply refrain from doing so and teach the material in class anyway? Naturally, you would not actually keep the source secret, and students would be free to get it if they so choose. Only, the book would not be the official textbook, or not the main one.
DeleteIf you can't comment using IE or Safari or Firefox, then try using Chrome.
DeleteThank you Monica. I did use the same theories mostly but was indeed required to assign work from an approved text. It was 25 years ago and I am only a little bitter still. Lol.
DeleteA veteran
I'm sorry, but is this supposed to make me hate this guy?
ReplyDelete