The alternative is <i>absolutely</i> not &quot;no book&quot;. Academic books can do <i></i>extremely<i></i> well as ebooks.<p>I&#x27;m cofounder of Leanpub, and some of our bestselling books (<a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;leanpub.com&#x2F;bookstore&#x2F;earnings_in_last_7_days&#x2F;all&#x2F;all" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;leanpub.com&#x2F;bookstore&#x2F;earnings_in_last_7_days&#x2F;all&#x2F;al...</a>) are academic books about data science written by professors. This includes our #1 book this week (<a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;leanpub.com&#x2F;artofdatascience" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;leanpub.com&#x2F;artofdatascience</a>).<p>These books have free minimum prices, $15 or so suggested prices, and do very well for their authors -- both by royalties earned and by number of copies sold.<p>The key point here is that if you&#x27;re typically earning $10 or more in royalties (yes, royalties) per paid book sale, then a few thousand book sales can add up to being meaningful, fast. And yes, this can even happen with academic books that have a free minimum price...