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One aspect of the popularity of dawkins is that being an eloquent radical atheist is currently somewhat profitable. Preaching to the choir is especially attractive if the choir is willing to shell out $25 dollars for a hardcover version of something they already knew. If you as a publisher knew you have stumbled upon a sizable community of similarly minded folks who feel somewhat slighted by popular culture and you have also stumbled upon a person who could speak eloquently to and about that community in way which would inspire controversy, and consequently sales, in the general public you'd be negligent to your shareholders for not publishing the author's work.
I know that atheism is nothing new, and i'm pretty sure that dawkins isn't the first person with the ability to express atheism as a persuasive argument. Maybe the growth in radical atheism is more just a symptom that atheists have finally joined that that oh-so-coveted "oppressed with money" demographic.
If someone were willing to pay me a lot of money to write a book and debate other people about nature of my perspective, i'd do it.
You people don't pay me shit for it.
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