It’s a jungle up there: Juggling an academic life with book authorship

Now that the “world is flat”, scientists are challenged to publish scientific findings for diverse audiences – citizens, students, policy makers, colleagues, and even armchair naturalists. A good, public science book can lead to the transformation of policies on conservation, ecology or science education. Hence, writing for non-technical audiences is time well spent in any ecological career. With the current national decline in science literacy, and statistics about the nature-deficit disorders facing youth, ecologists should consider diversifying their writing skill sets with different types of science communication. I provide examples of how technical science can be transformed into public science, and “walk” through the sequence from an initial proposal to a book publisher to its final marketing in both technical and public science arenas, including estimates of time/effort for all steps in the process required by an author juggling a writing and academic life. Post-publishing challenges such as book-signings, marketing, second editions and book talks are important for new authors to consider, but the rewards can be great