Advertisers don’t usually hunt down small bloggers. That’s what adsense is for. Give it a try and see how relevant it is. They miss the mark completely sometimes, but are usually on target. I’m thinking more along the lines of affiliate programs. Zero entry cost. Ten minutes to set up. Try a few and see if it works.

There are quite a few options for promoting textbooks and genre books as well as science related items that might be of use to readers.

But I prefer to promote items that readers might like. Such as t-shirt affiliate programs. A quick look finds:
“Support Bacteria, they’re the only culture some people have”
“I (heart) amoebas”
“Adios Amoebas – amoeba, amoeba, ondalay, ondalay” (despite the phoentic spelling)

Give the reader something to buy and make 5% in the process. You’ll get a couple complaints here and there about ads from purists (or maybe academics), but most people understand that the income helps you make a better blog. As the song goes, you can’t please everyone. One or two ad blocks on a page isn’t disruptive.

You could even offer your own artfulamoeba gear thru CafePress. Sorry, I couldn’t find a custom dinoflagellate fascinator affiliate program right off the bat – give me some time.

I’m considering e-books myself. Better than a blog for income if you hit it right and a lot less up front work than a book. You can test the water with a smaller effort, self publish thru Amazon, and release multiple books if things go well.

You know you’re there when you stop worrying about where the next paycheck is coming from.

You’re blog is pretty well ranked now and you’ve got a community going, which is more than some can say. Keep us posted. I love a good grass roots success story.

Kenn is right, you have a wonderful writing style. Though there are shorter paths to success such as e-books that might be more profitable for niche content than publishing houses. Unless you can write a textbook and force students to buy it for an outrageous price :) Or you hit sorta-mass-appeal like Ridley’s Genome book. Or go the Hawking route and write it sufficiently above average understanding and hype it so that everyone will buy it to be cool, but never read it. Probably best to play up the biological disaster angle. That works for everyone else. Fear sells. See I have lots of ideas :) Need a manager? 40%. I’m thinking movie rights – “attack of the bleeding fungus from hell” Ah, the movies of my youth…

But seriously, I have some experience with the online sites and monetization. I love chatting with free thinkers about getting things off the ground. Feel free to email if you want to brainstorm.

my favorite quote and quite applicable here! wishing you the best! a friend of mine at the smithsonian told me, when i asked him if he’d heard about anything that might work for you, that freelance was probably your best plan. so there you have it :)