Coturnix has assembled the Science Blogging Anthology using a self-publishing service. It seems like a bit of a cheat: skim the cream off a bunch of blogs, stick ’em together, and presto, you’ve got a 336 page book. Technology is just like magic, isn’t it?
Pharyngula
Evolution, development, and random biological ejaculations from a godless liberal
You can say the same about any anthology. I’d say it’s damned impressive that he managed to assemble this thing, including a peer review process, in just 3 weeks.
Not only that, but an anthology that a lot of nerds will want to buy. I wonder what Bora’s profit margin is?
I don’t know what his profit margin is, but I’d suspect, unless this thing becomes a bestseller, that his hourly rate won’t be much better than working for McDonald’s. My guess is that he’ll be lucky to sell 500 books, and even if he’s making $5 per book, that’s probably less than $10/hour, given that he’s been working nonstop on the project for three weeks.
Interesting. I think I’ll go blog about it.
I suppose even editing a science anthology isn’t particularly easy. I had a highschool science teacher who wrote one unit of a physics textbook and she said it was totally not worth it financially. Being a science writer is not a good way to get rich.
My boss once invited me to co-author a book chapter on mouse technology in “The Laboratory Mouse (Handbook of Experimental Animals)”. Finally each of us got something like 130 Euro (before taxes). Thus, in financial terms it was not worth it.