@cab5571 @NWONieuws NWO is just the public Dutch funding agency for academic research (and yes the name is really awkward haha). You write a proposal, a board of researchers from different fields and different universities pick who gets funding.
It's extremely competitive and a lot of work.

@cab5571 @NWONieuws If you get such a research grant, you will be able to be hired by your university of choice. You're basically paying for your own salary with that grant.
That's how research funding works in most of the academic world. Some people are funded privately, but that's quite rare.

@cab5571 @NWONieuws So yeah, grant for the project came first, because otherwise I literally would not be able to do the work, since I wouldn't have any money.
Then the funding for Open Access, came after I had finished my book. Had they not given it, that the book would not have been free.

@cab5571 @NWONieuws But I still would have gotten absolutely no money from anyone buying the publication. The only people who would receive money are the publishers. That's the normal state of affairs for academic publishing in fields as small as mine. You don't get royalties.