Former colleagues "discover" my topic

so if I do a google on "collaborative public administration" my 2001 book "Creating Sustainable Community Programs: Examples of Collaborative Public Administration." published by Praeger, a good commercial publisher, comes right up, at the top of the search. A child could conduct a literature search on google and find it. It was a straight commission contract, I made a little over $3000 on royalities.

So my former colleagues are publishing "Real World Cases of Collaborative Public Administration" with a publisher that does only academic books. What a coincidence? My book comes up with any google search, or barnesandnoble or amazon search, it was reviewed in Public Administration Review (on which one of my former colleagues is board member), featured in PA Times, I had two panels from the book at the ASPA conference in Newark, it was on display for several years at ASPA conferences.

They are either (1) too lazy to come up with an idea for their own book or (2) clueless to what has been published on the topic of collaborative PA.

I hlope they at least give me a footnote or citation. Working with them for 4 years was the worst experience of my life, ranks up their with having a root canal at the dentist....

UPDATE: forthcoming ME Sharpe book, summer 09, "Sustainable Development for Public Administration," by two different authors, announced as "the first book to focus on application of sustainability and sustainable development theories to public administration." Again, no, mine was. Don't academicians do a simple Internet search before they announce the are the "first" to publish something? I wonder if they will give me a citation....