Happiest News

The softcovers of The Happiest Days of Our Lives have just shipped, according to my printer, so I should be able to start taking orders next week. The limited edition hardcovers are taking much longer, and won’t be here until the week of October 8, but I think it’s close enough that I can start taking pre-orders for both versions next week.

I’m talking with David Lawrence about doing an audio version. We’re hoping to record the first week of October, so it’s ready to go at the same time as the printed versions.

Since I’m doing this book entirely on my own, I’m going to be drawing heavily on community support to help promote it, starting right now: if you got The Happiest Days of Our Lives this summer from one of my convention appearances, would you let me know what you thought, so I can make sure my marketing efforts reflect what readers are getting from the book?

From the people I’ve talked to already, I’m starting to get the sense that it inspires nostalgic memories of their own, which leads to discussing a lot of the shared experiences we who grew up in the 70s and came of age in the 80s share: Star Wars figures, video games, RPGS, things like that. I also hear that even if you’ve read these stories online, it’s an entirely different experience to read them in print.

Andrew and I are working on a media kit like the one we did for Dancing Barefoot, and Roughy and I are busy building all the appropriate ordering and product pages at Monolith Press.

Questions? Comments? You know what to do.

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55 thoughts on “Happiest News”

  2. “From the people I’ve talked to already, I’m starting to get the sense that it inspires nostalgic memories of their own…”
    I’ll take that as a personal reference 😉
    It’s a really good book – my wife received an autographed copy from Wil at PAX and we took turns reading from it to each other on the drive home to Arkansas. I strongly suggest anyone who buys this book to enjoy it with someone else.

  3. I haven’t decided yet, Christine, but I think the unsigned paperbacks will be between $15-$20, and the signed, numbered, limited edition hardback will probably be priced similar to what you see at Subterranean Press, which is between $40-$50 for a book of this size.
    I’m working very hard to find the perfect balance between earning enough with these books to make the entire thing worth my while, and not pricing them out of the reach of too many readers. It’s not as easy as I thought it would be.

  4. “I’m starting to get the sense that it inspires nostalgic memories of their own…”
    f it is anything like Just a Geek, your blogs, RFB, or your keynote, then I am sure it does.
    Thanks in advance, and I can hardly wait to get a copy.

  7. Tho I would hazard to say that most of us have seen some or most of the material. We most likely have not seen ALL the material. I recently read Kevin Smith’s Silent Bob Speaks which was a similar item. I enjoyed reading the items I had already read and the material I had not as well.

  8. I’m looking forward to getting my hands on a copy.
    Having come from the paper ‘zine era of Trek, and finally moving on to my own lit press, I know how nerve wracking it is to put out a quality product that you can be proud of without losing your shirt.
    Are you going to Tour it? I know that usually the publishers pay for that kind of thing, but . . . /shrug/
    I don’t know, it’d be nice to get to other poker tournies around the country, right?
    double bonus?

  9. jadeddo: yes, both cities are on my short list of places I’d like to go to promote this. I think this time I can even get into the “big” Powells.
    I’ll be using Eventful to coordinate all of this, once I have the books in hand.

  10. BTW, what happened with the signed “Just a Geek” books that were ordered through Brookline Booksmith last year? I figure the schedule got pretty hectic and maybe the demand was too high. I ended up finally getting mine through Amazon because I didnt want to wait any longer 🙂

  12. FEJ: I signed them all and shipped them back to Booksmith several months ago.
    It was my fault they took so long, though.

  15. Like sands through the hourglass…
    I totally intend to get this book. The 70’s and 80’s were my first two decades. And I love reading memories like this.

  18. I picked up a copy at PAX and read/finished it first thing the next morning before I got out of bed. Yes, it did bring back a ton of memories from my childhood (Why did the boys always have cooler toys!!). I had read some of the stories on your blog but they still were fun to read again. I even shed a couple tears over the story about your cat, Felix. I’m not a big crier at all, yet it got to me. My dog was snuggled in beside me and he was showered with extra love and affection after I finished reading.
    I thought it was a good choice of stories and it flowed really well. The only slightly negative thing I would have to say is that I found it a little short…it left me wanting more. Well, that could be a good thing I guess. More blog readers!!! 😉

  19. I met you briefly at PAX but being a fanboy I was kinda nervous and, although I noticed the small stack of HDoL to your left, I totally forgot to ask for a signed copy. I note from your response to Jaddedo that you’ll be coming north on a book signing so I’ll definitely be wanting to buy a hardcopy (or two) from you then.

  24. I would also love to know if it’s going to be avaible to us Canadians. And also with our dollar being so close to yours please please please don’t put a Canadian price on it that is a lot higher.

  26. Wil – looking forward to the book. I also wanted to let you know that my place of employment recently bought your last two (at my er, insistence… ie, I grabbed the credit card and went and bought with abandon) so that we can deconstruct your model of taking blog to book, and likely mimic it for our own attempts at the same.
    Which is really just a longwinded (hey, I’m an academic… it’s a habit and an excuse!) way of saying you’ve managed to inspire a bunch of us in our ivory towers. 🙂

  27. Hi
    Im not familiar with your earlier work, only know you as an actor.
    But I would like to order your new book, just let me know if you can ship it to Europe. Thanks.

  28. Sorry if I missed something, Wil, but I thought you had a book deal with O’Reilly. Why are you having to self-publish and promote this? And if they passed on this, they are fucking idiots.

  29. price is irrelevant
    i want a hardcover
    WOOT !!!
    will these be signed by you sir ???
    is there not going to be a signing tour
    i so wanna meet you 😛

  31. Wil – If it turns out that you can’t ship the books to Canada I can arrange for all Canadian orders to go to a US address and then to either myself to be distributed, or directly to the Canadians ordering them. Alternatively, you could just ship all of the Canadian orders directly to me and I’ll ship them at cost to the other Canadian fans. Don’t deny us our musings of Uncle Willy!

  32. Thank you for all of your comments. Several of you who read the book e-mailed me, and it’s been very useful (and gratifying!) to hear from you.
    Canadians! No worries this time. I can ship to you without a lot of hassle, because I’m doing Media Mail, and Bound Printed Matter, which doesn’t require a complicated customs form. Other international readers may not be so lucky, and may have to wait until I can work something out with an online retailer, maybe Mysterious Galaxy.

  34. Hawesome! I’ve been waiting for news on this! I love this time of year when its cooler and I can curl up with a good book. I’ll definetly be ordering a copy. Thanks for the update info, Wil.

  35. I am really looking forward to this, and I’m glad that being in Canada won’t be an issue this time. If you could just go ahead and make one of the signed hardcovers out to me, that’d be great! 😛

  36. Put me down for a hardcover, but I’m gonna wait and have you sign it next year when you come back to Seattle. I’m really looking forward to reading it, (I’m stepdad too).

  37. Coolness of all coolness. This is exciting news! Yes, I want a a hardcover book with a signature. Of course, there is excitement in the air to hear that you are planning on stopping in Portland, OR with the potential of being in Powells. I have placed my demand in Eventful for you to come to Portland a while ago. So, I will try to maintain my patience to wait till you have a date there so I may obtain a book then.
    🙂 (Happy Happy Joy Joy Happy Happy Joy!)

  39. Wil: If you are willing to ship to Canada (and you obviously did some work around that because you felt bad we were shut out last time! haha) then I would be willing to buy a hard cover book.
    I’m that kinda guy.
    It’s cool seeing it progress and now it’s finally here. Woot!

  41. Happiest Days is really my favorite of your three books simply because it focuses less on the geeky stuff (entertaining, but sometimes over my head) and more on the personal stories that reflect on your personality, your interactions with and genuine love of your family.
    I think these are the most honest stories that you share, and certainly the most heartfelt.
    It really has been a privilege over the years to watch your writing improve and your use of words sharpen.
    I’m looking forward to the next one!

  42. October 8th huh? Guess that will be a good birthday present for me on the 10th!
    I’m for sure down for a signed hardcover! As long as I’m not at work when you post it, and have it sell out before I get home to check your blog. lol
    I’ve been worried I would miss the post for like a month now!

  43. I’m so jazzed that this is all coming together now – I plan to buy several hard-back editions and give them as Christmas presents. I have been pimping your writing for a long time now – this is my chance to show them how awesome you are!!!

  45. I definitely want to read it but given that I’m pretty friggin’ nostalgic already, I’m concerned that it might send me into a nostalgia spiral… 😉

  46. thanks for the link big jon….really funny. The Wii Fit video is also great.
    If you really only had 4 days left to blog, Wil, what would you say???
    😉

  48. Screw Montreal or Toronto. The hookers may be good there (so I hear) but it’s not good to leave out the heart of Canada: The Maritimes! The atlantic ocean, man!
    Do a book signing in Halifax. Then you can go to North America’s oldest pub!

  50. Yay!!!
    You have a posse and we’ll assemble accordingly.
    Do you have any idea what your tour schedule will look like? (*cough* *cough* Austin *cough*)
    No pun intended but this is really happy news. 🙂

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