Wednesday, February 11, 2009

Our Unprotected Heritage in a Bookstore Near You

Left Coast Press (www.lcoastpress.com) has just published my latest book – Our Unprotected Heritage: Whitewashing Destruction of Our Cultural and Natural Environment. Probably destined to make me thoroughly unemployable in the environmental impact assessment (EIA) and cultural resource management (CRM) industries, it’s an exposé on how those industries have become corrupted since their inceptions back in the 1970s. A familiar topic to readers of this blog, I realize, but Unprotected makes, I hope, a rather more fully developed case, and concludes with concrete recommendations to President Obama. Who hasn’t said whether he’ll review it, but who knows?

2 comments:

Lance M. Foster said...

y'know Tom, I like that you self-published your novel

While I would love to read "Our Unprotected Heritage", I am personally not either a well-paid consultant nor a tenured faculty member with a book budget. This book is almost 80 bucks!

I understand the academic press mill aimed at the upscale/academic market, and how it might work for books like "The Horner Site", but this book of yours sounds like it was meant for the average Joe who is concerned about local resources. It sounds like it could be a good tool for the average citizen.

So maybe THESE kinds of books aimed for the average Joe should be average-Joe-priced? If the academic presses like Left Coast can't/won't price things for average folks (say, in the $15-20 range) maybe you could consider self-publishing such books meant for "everyman" and leave the high-priced books for the high-priced buyers?

Just a thought about how to better and more effectively spread your message

Thomas F King said...

Thanks, Lance. It's a good idea, now that I'm sufficiently "established" that maybe people will buy stuff I self-publish. Of course, the novel is my first adventure in self-publishing, and I don't yet know how it'll turn out, financially or otherwise. I'm pretty appalled at the prices of my textbooks, too, though I understand the overhead issues that make them so pricy, and the value added by being supported by a well known (well, semi-well known) press that put out advertising.