Marina “Hot For Words” Orlova, the double-degreed Russian philologist who made a name for herself on YouTube by explaining the etymologies of various words, just came out with her first book. The self-titled tome from Harper Collins features 280 glossy pages of Marina serving up the origins of eigthy words and phrases — with matching pictures of Marina, of course.

As a revenue-sharing member of YouTube’s partner program, Marina represents a new generation of self-made online video celebrities. Unlike many of the buxom blondes of previous media, Marina handles every part of her new media empire, and interacts very directly with her fans. Just to provide an example of Marina’s highly technical hands-on approach, her latest tweet calls out a major tech blog for recommending an IE7-incompatible widget. When was the last time you saw a celebrity babe do something like that?

If you’ll be at the San Diego Comic-Con today, Marina will be selling autographed advanced copies of her book from noon ’til 2pm.

Originally posted on July 25, 2009 @ 3:19 am