The book industry, man. What an industry. Cynical idealists and idealistic cynics, professional complainers and their interns. Last night I saw a fella on the subway carrying a publisher tote bag full of books—a tip-off if ever there was one—and the poor guy just looked exhausted, hunched over in two places.** No wonder Quill and Quire publishes a more discouraging Salary Survey every year. (“Workplace survey 2005: This year’s results show job satisfaction on the wane.”) The pay is low. The competition is fierce.

But I think it’s the passion and the ideals that keep people in the business. (Or maybe I’m just in the mood to make a broad, sweeping generalization.*) The reason I’m posting is that I found this nice little article in the new Q&Q:

Children have the chance to name a new species of extremophile (lifeforms that flourish in extreme temperatures, pressures, pH levels, and other conditions) as part of a campaign by Maple Tree Press to promote a recent title, Strange New Species: Astonishing Discoveries of Life on Earth by Elin Kelsey.

Running from Nov. 1 to March 31, 2006, the contest – which Canadian and American children ages seven to 15 can enter via an online entry form found on the Maple Tree website – was Kelsey’s idea. Interviewing scientists for Strange New Species, she had an epiphany.

“The more I spoke to these scientists, the more I was struck by the fact that many of them wanted to become scientists at really young ages,” she says. “I was also struck by the idea that scientists are discovering more new species today than at any other time in history, and that early experiences with science can be important in encouraging kids to consider the role of it in their lives.”

When she found out that several new species had yet to be named and that some were extremophiles, she called on Bonnie Baxter, a biochemist who led a team of researchers to Utah’s Great Salt Lake, where extremophiles were recently found. The species in question are single-celled halophiles, organisms that can thrive in water 10 times saltier than the sea. Baxter and Ashlee Allred, the 21-year-old student who found one of the new species, agreed to donate the rights to name it.

For a kid who’s into science, how cool is that? That’s better than having your own star or being the volunteer from the audience at the Science Center. Funny how the same promo would seem even sleazy if it was an adult-market book. Think of product placement. Keep it together now. Ideals and all that.


Notes:
* broad, sweeping generalization : The kind that returned me Prof comments like, “Again, too many sweeping generalizations. Wholly irrelevant. Perhaps you meant to hand this in for another course? Also, please stop answering, ‘not today,’ when I ask you to explain your ideas in class.”

**hunched over in two places: It’s remarkable, once you work with people who read, at their desks, for a living, that you can recognize one of your brethren by the glasses and curvèd spine.

***salary survey: On my first day of publishing school we were told, “you won’t ever be rich working in publishing. If you want money, go where the money is. It isn’t here.” Two months ago, when I gave a talk to some current publishing students about their careers and giving a care, the burden fell on me to break it to them that there in’t no money where they’re headed. Just imagine how well that went over.