Introducing Pub101 for Authors

Writing and publishing an open textbook is a creative endeavor, scholarly contribution, and meaningful way for faculty to connect with students around their area of expertise. 

To support faculty authors who want to create an open textbook, the Open Education Network (OEN) offers shared publishing infrastructure, a supportive community, and adaptable resources. 

In that spirit, we’re excited to share the latest addition to our lineup: Pub101 for Authors.

Pub101 for Authors is a thoughtful adaptation of Pub101, a popular online orientation and curriculum for librarians, instructional designers, and faculty support staff. For this new experience, the Pub101 Committee revised the original curriculum and created a synchronous experience targeted towards potential authors. The goal is to support open textbook authors who may not have access to support at their institution, and the program is offered at no cost. 

Amanda Larson, AERI Program Coordinator at The Ohio State University and chair of the Pub101 Committee, highlights the OEN’s motivation for creating Pub101 for Authors. “We created Pub101 for Authors in the hopes that we could provide just-in-time resources to folks who were considering authoring an open textbook, but may not have a dedicated librarian or an open publishing program at their institution,” she said. 

The OEN also wanted to provide librarians and instructional designers with resources they could use to alleviate some of the burden of doing it all themselves, which is often the case in one-person publishing programs.

The new curriculum and synchronous experience are a reflection of the shared abundance that can be found in the open education community. 

“We gathered a lot of input about what open textbook authors would ideally take away from the experience,” said Karen Lauritsen, OEN senior director, publishing. “We held sessions with the OEN and at the Library Publishing Forum, and as always, people were generous with their time and ideas about how to support OER creation.”

Karen has worked closely with the Pub101 Committee to thoroughly revise the curriculum and prepare presenters for the upcoming online sessions. The Committee includes: 

In addition, committee members will each host a session with a guest presenter. 

Each one-hour session will explore a pertinent topic, including Accessibility; Project Management; Copyright, Creative Commons & Fair Use; Working in Teams; and much more. 

Amanda will host the Pedagogical & AI Considerations session on May 6. She will be joined by guest presenter Liza Long, with the Idaho State Board of Education. 

“To offer folks a chance to engage with someone who has used AI while authoring OER, and in the classroom, is incredible,” Amanda says. “It’s critical to have a human with subject expertise in the loop if you decide to use AI to author anything, but especially when it’s OER with its licensing considerations.” 

Melissa Chim, Scholarly Communications Librarian at Excelsior University, will host Published! Now What? on May 13, the final session of the 2026 series. She will be joined by guest presenters Meggie Mapes of the University of Kansas and Cheryl Casey of the University of Arizona. The two are teaming up to offer smart strategies for published authors.

”It’s important to get the word out about your work,” says Cheryl, noting that there’s currently no worldwide central OER repository. “Market the book as widely as you can.” She suggests that authors submit books to the Open Textbook Library and share them on MERLOT and OER Commons to make them more discoverable. She also recommends that authors promote their open textbook on OER listservs, disciplinary listservs, and LinkedIn, and work with a departmental marketing team to publish a press release, article, or blog post if possible.

Another pointer from Cheryl: It’s important to keep your book updated and accessible. “The ability to continuously improve OER is a big advantage!” she says. Cheryl encourages authors to check links regularly, add new information as available, and confirm that any technical/accessibility issues are resolved.

The inaugural cohort of Pub101 for Authors will meet online weekly from March 25 to May 13, 2026. The Pub101 Committee will gather feedback about every session so that it can continue to improve the experience. For its inaugural launch, the synchronous experience is open to people who are affiliated with OEN member institutions. The curriculum, transcripts, slides and recordings are openly available. 

Contact Karen Lauritsen with questions.