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A FISTFUL OF DOLLARS

Landscape Evolution: Landforms, Ecosystems, and Soils has been published in the electronic version, and the hardcopy will be available soon. I have mentioned previously that I wish it was less expensive--$150 list, though you can still get it for 15% less if you preorder from the publisher: https://www.elsevier.com/books/landscape-evolution/phillips/978-0-12-821725-2

While I love money (I am an American, after all), my primary desire is for people to read it.  While I was feeling a bit guilty about the price tag (though I recognize specialized books for a small audience are often pricey), I remembered that even textbooks for introductory university courses with large markets can easily run more then $100.  So I did a quick, non-scientific survey of  textbooks and a few more specialized books in areas covered in Landscape Evolution, using Amazon.com. There are many such books under 100$ (US), but many over as well. Below is a list of those with list prices of $100 or more, published since 2015. As you can see, my book is hardly in the bargain bin, but not completely out of line with the market, either. 

I would give it away if I could (I don’t expect sales to be enough for me to make much, if any, money on it once the publisher has paid their bills and taken their profits). But the folks that produced it (Elsevier) got to get paid. 

 

If you are wondering why I chose that publisher:

•Elsevier contacted me to see if I was interested in writing a book on landscape evolution. Beyond the ego gratification, that cuts out several steps in the dance with publishers to get a book published.

•I did not want to be constrained to produce a classroom text, or a mass-market product. Elsevier agree to that, and as a longstanding publisher of hardcore science in many fields, they know how to produce and market such works.

•I’ve had mostly good experiences with Elsevier journals, including Geomorphology, Geoderma, Catena, Ecological Modeling, Journal of Hydrology, Marine Geology, Sedimentary Geology, and Applied Geography. 

•Elsevier has been quite supportive of the Binghamton Geomorphology Symposium, a long-running (>50 years) series that I have been involved with in various ways for >30 years. 

I've attached a file that includes the book's cover (with art by Petr Mores), table of contents, and preface.

 

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