COMMUNICATING ABOUT THE GEOSCIENCES: SELF-PUBLISHING AND DISTRIBUTING BOOKS

After years of publishing work in peer-reviewed journals, technical memoirs, and textbooks, many geoscientists aspire to write stories that are unsuitable for the usual professional publications and are of little interest to commercial publishers. Many retirees want to share stories, anecdotes, and experiences from long careers in the field and laboratory. Modern computer techniques have made writing and printing such books very easy. The real problem is in promoting and distributing a book once it is printed. The floors of many attics are sagging under a load of unsold books. We have assembled a group of these self-publishing geoscientists in order to make our books known and readily available through the internet (www.libri-terrarum.com). Though we have only started, our group offers a variety of works: guidebooks to field areas; books on volcanology and paleontology; biographies; histories; books on geological education; and even novels and a book of geological poems. We encourage other self-publishing authors to join us and enjoy the satisfaction that comes with sharing thoughts and experiences with our colleagues and disseminating material that would otherwise be unavailable.