#126 - TARANTULAS (ANIMAL PLANET PET CARE LIBRARY)

I'm proud of this

Released in September 2011, my tarantula book, Tarantulas, was written for one purpose: To give tarantula keepers, especially novice and intermediate arachnoculturists, the definitive word directly from one of the hobby's top breeders. It was specifically written because the book people call "The Bible" is about as useful as its namesake. I was approached by T.F.H. to write a manuscript for their joint project with Animal Planet – the Pet Care Library. I was given 27,000 words. I took that as a challenge. A fan of minimalistic novelists like Hempel and Palahniuk, I wanted none of the fluff or editorial twaddle of "The Bible". I strived for concise and clear. I shared the experience of about four decades. I offered instruction based on the breeding of countless species. I didn't think about my colleagues who were also leading breeders. I wasn't writing for them. I was writing for the family in Petco. I was writing for the girl at the reptile show. I was writing for the boy in the library. I think my goal was achieved.

I wonder how many copies it has sold. I haven't a clue. I was a hired gun payed for 27,000 words. I was paid a set fee for producing the manuscript. I receive no royalties. I stripped down the essence of modern entry-level keeping and tarantula biology down to 30,000 words, and then convinced my Editor Tom Mazorlig that it was honed and polished, and I needed the extra three thousand.

I no longer stock these books, but I'm thinking about ordering another box of 50 and offering signed copies again.

T.F.H. also paid me for my manuscript Geckos for their Complete Herp Care series. That was 5,000 words and an appropriate larger set fee. That check was cashed maybe four years ago. The book has never been printed. The editor who I worked with for both manuscript moved on to another job. I contacted the new editor of Geckos after the delay went on. She said that due to the economy the book publication date had been moved back to X (I don't remember the date). She's never contact me. I've never asked again. I had already earned all the money I would. That may sound mercenary, but I got out of the additional work that I would have put into the project as we worked on final edits, photo selection, etc. I was happy to take the money and run, even though I was, of course, disappointed that my book wouldn't reach the herpetoculturists that would benefit from my experience as a gecko breeder. I was hoping to leave two legacies: one to arachnoculture (tarantulas), and another to herpetoculture (geckos). My commissioned monograph on the African bush vipers had never been finished or published. I put so many hours of work into researching that book and corresponding with experts around the world. It was to be the comprehensive work much like publisher Klaus Dieter-Shulz's monograph on rat snakes (Elapse). Not having the gecko book was also disappointing, but I was paid and didn't take nearly as much time as my Atheris project.

At that time I had a website devoted to the Tribe Atherini called World of Atheris. I put countless hours of effort into that as well, and it ran for years before a German copycat's "borrowing" of all my hard-earned content forced me to make the site evaporate. Now I consider the same fate for my Tarantula Bibliography. I've poured time into it for many years and really can't be bothered with it anymore.

Anyway, I'm glad Tarantulas is out there. I'll let you know if I offer a limited run of signed copies. But you can get it cheap and easy from Amazon in both print and Kindle editions.

MJ