Bitcoin Forum

Well, Pre-launch.

[drumroll]

Presenting: BLOCKLAND: 21 Stories of Bitcoin, Blockchain, and Crypto-Currency

Author Bio, Table of Contents, and Introduction available at www.cryptonumist.com/blockland (http://www.cryptonumist.com/blockland)

This book is an attempt to broadly tell the story: the origin, history, culture, legends, and anecdotes, of the entire cryptocurrency industry. The book’s 400 pages, 145 sections, and 21 chapters examine different facets of the blockchain phenomenon. Much of this includes the history and happenings of this very forum. The misfit innovators, the wild stories, the scams, and all the many things that are real yet read like fiction. There are over 200 characters and 500 citations. After a year of full-time writing and research, it is in the final pre-publishing stages. This is my life's work.

Over five years ago in 2015, I announced pre-orders on this forum for the Encyclopedia of Physical Bitcoin and Crypto-Currency, my first book. This consisted of 100 numbered ‘First Print Edition’ books, which helped me cover the expenses to bring the book to reality. The next year an additional 20 ‘Signature Edition’ hardcovers were sold.

Its time to renew the tradition.

In keeping with tradition, I am making available some ‘First Print Edition II’ hardcover books. They will be individually numbered and digitally signed. My intention is to ship these out several weeks before the official launch of the book. It is likely that this ‘pre-publish’ edition will be slightly different (and thus unique) than the final mass-market product.

Anticipated shipping date: July

Watch this thread for updates.

https://i.imgur.com/c9zOL6k.jpg

Awesome! We've all been waiting for this and we understand things take time. Just happy to see it's coming out. Thanks for your time and dedication to the project. I'll definitely be getting this and I look forward to helping and supporting your work!

iBHK8

Interesting! Hopefully there'll be a sequel in the coming years, too. :)

subscribing for updates, well done elias :)

can you provide some indicative pricing?

congrats on your new book!

could you please elaborate about the part "They will be individually numbered and digitally signed" (concerning the First Print Edition II hardcover books)

those will not be hand-numbered & hand signed?

also, I am not quite sure if I understood this correctly. Will there be a "First Print Edition I" of your new book, or the title is just a continuation of the ‘First Print Edition’ of the encyclopedia?

wish you all the best!

I plan to have each book come with a unique 1st page after the cover that has a number as well as a signature. This might even include a personal message. These would be printed on, and the signature would come from the pen on my Samsung Note8. Part of the reason for this is that global supply chains are and will likely continue to be clogged up, making it rather impractical for me to sign and ship a bunch of books in person as I'm in Europe currently. It was quite a mess when I did that with the 1st book, and a few ended up getting lost.


The 'II' is in reference to the fact that I released a 'First Print Edition' of Enclyclopedia of Physical Bitcoin & Cryptcurrency back in 2016, so it is in fact my 2nd time creating such a '1st print' (albeit for entirely different books). Maybe its not that clever, and I should just call it 'First Print Edition'. We will see.

Any way we can view a sample of a page or two? BTC

Teaser Update

The Introduction and Table of Contents have been made available.

http://www.cryptonumist.com/blockland/

What I'm now leaning towards is making the FIRST PRINT EDITION special and unique by printing it as a large hardcover in the same size/style as the newer Encylopedia (8.5x11 inches). Strictly limited to 121, priced in the same range as the Encylopedia.

The mass-market copies, which will be priced lower, will be a standard size at maybe 5.5x8.5.

I plan to offer these numbered books firstly to those who purchased the First Print Edition of the Encyclopedia back in 2016, giving them the opportunity to buy this in the same serial number. The same goes for 2017 buyers of the Autographs Edition. There will likely be some leftovers, as many users who pre-ordered the first Encylopedia are no longer active on the forum. Perhaps the lowest 5 or so will be auctioned here later on.

Note that this is not yet final.

The cover design will be posted soon.

The cover design has been added

I will be sending PM's to those who have ordered the FIRST PRINT of the softcover & Autographs Edition of the Hardcover.
Feel free to PM me direct. I may create a waitlist for leftover copies. I'll likely give previous buyers up to 2 weeks of exclusive order time.

Great, i want one!

https://i.imgur.com/GlZ3jsO.jpg?1

You may put me on the waitlist when there is a free spot  ;D

I would also like to be on the waitlist! - If it doesn't work out, when will the plebs be able to order?  :D

I've now messaged everyone who bought the numbered softcover FIRST PRINT's and hardcover AUTOGRAPHS EDITION's directly from me via the forum.
If you have a numbered FIRST PRINT and did not receive a message (and did not chat with me about it already), MESSAGE ME ASAP so that I can assign you your number. There is a growing waitlist, and in a week or so I will start assigning the 'unclaimed' numbers to them at which point you will be out of luck. There are up to ~25 'unclaimed' numbers; many of these ended up being sold at conferences or distributors or were given as gifts.

If you want to get on the waitlist, PM me.

what are the unclaimed numbers?

I don't have a record of the following First Edition softcover's.
5, 31, 32, 42, 68, 70, 73, 74, 75, 76, 79, 81-83, 85-87, 89, 90, 91, 92, 93, 94, 95.
A few of them might even lay forgotten in my bookcase. They are somewhere, so if you have one, speak or forever hold your peace.

I won't be assigning specific numbers to anyone on the waitlist just yet, and more numbers will become available especially after 2 weeks. Low numbers will likely be auctioned.

update: 11 of them are already found!  :P

I may be able to offer non-numbered copies to those who miss out on the 121, but these will certainly be phased out upon official publication which will happen in late summer or early fall.

if you do take reservations for numbers - I would love #76 :)

I would like to be in the waiting list as well please  :P :D

I was able to get on the wait list for the hardcover; due to the high serial number I was assigned it looks like the list is filling up quickly. Thanks Elias very much looking forward to the book.

Quick update.
The final copy-editing round is finishing up this week, and I am over halfway done with adding citations to the text.
The text is now being worked in the measurements that it will appear in the book, and there is still some work to be done in formatting to ensure block quotes appear right, etc.
The Index is not yet complete.

There is now a slight delay, as I left my monitor's power cord in another country and spilled tea on my laptop, damaging some functions. A new power cord is on the way. That said, things are still on track to print in July. Hopefully, mid-July.

I'm excited to get mine.  ;D  I can't speak for anyone else, but if it gets delayed some, that's okay with me because it's better to do it right the first time. Delays are kinda expected also.  :P

I'm totally with you, if delays are necessary I don't mind it all!

Still fine-tuning the formatting stuff, took a bit longer than expected.
All 660 citations are done. Still aiming to start printing this month, if no surprises.

woot , cool man, thx for the update! :)

i look forward to curling up with my little guys this fall and reading this.

Hope you and yours are staying healthy!

I'll take #64 if still available 

Editing & formatting is complete. Looks like we are coming to 320 pages on the 8.5x11, and ~500 on 6x9 which comes out later. 5.5x8.5 as originally planned may be too small for this much text.
I have begun signing with my digital pen.

The cover needs to be reformatted for the finalized page count.
The back cover text still needs a bit of editing. It will likely not be the same as in the final product.
The index of the pre-publication pre-print edition will likely be a simplified version of the final product.

Proceeding to printing within days.

@elianite

I am glad to see all the editing is done and that your book is going to print, I am very excited to see the end result! and I am very happy I was able to be of assistance in getting it to that point.

if there is a numbered edition - I would like to try and reserve #76 if possible.

UPDATE:
The final text file and cover have officially been submitted. The printers start rolling this week!

After some image sizing and font embedding needed to be done, the new version has again been submitted to the publisher.

The title has been approved by the publisher!

... but, the cover got cropped in a very ugly way, so the title needs to be resized and centered. A few more days, again.
I'm not about to let a badly cropped cover get out after micro-managing the design for a month.
+1 if you agree  :D :D

https://i.imgur.com/0WD1esV.jpg?1

+1 --- it will be worth the wait.

congratz Elias!

+1, absolutely!

All systems go!

If you have not yet sent payment or an address, please PM me.
The presses are already going. Looks like due to Covid, the US facility may take weeks to fulfill orders so for now US orders will be sent from the UK. Let me know if you want to save some trees and get yours from the US facility and don't mind getting your book later than others.

It's happening.  ;D

I cannot wait to read it in print! congratulations on getting this done!

I can only speak for myself, so, I'd like to get my books as soon as humanly possible. The U.S. has a supply chain that is slowing, and shows no evidence in getting any better in the near (or extended) future.  :(       You might want to consider shipping all U.S.A. orders out first. With some luck, we might possibly get them prior to the Presidential election over here.....possibly??  ???

I've filled most orders now, and the majority are getting shipped from the UK so you should leave the warehouse by the end of next week. For those in the US who ordered multiple books, I ordered 1 from UK and the rest from the US, so you at least get one asap.

Also, I received the first 3 books today. These are the first ones printed in addition to one copy of the early draft back in March, and they are unique because they have the off-balance cover that I posted a picture of. I did notice some minor issues; the running heads at the top of the pages are a bit fuzzy and missing in two chapters.. But good news is that the book is true to form and looks beautiful with the hardcover encyclopedia. I think you'll also enjoy the unique signatures I've added to the 1st page of each copy.

:) Hi Elianite,
I have sent you a msg via your website.

*Got the book today, (9-8-2020) looks really good. Looking forward to reading it. Others should be getting theirs soon too  :D

Cointelegraph has published the first book review!

https://cointelegraph.com/news/blockland-book-review-part-gonzo-part-bitcoin-thriller-100-recommended

awesome! is there any tracking available for the book? I want to make sure I am home - the postal carrier sucks here and I don't want it just tossed in my yard lol

Same here!

Seriously man!

Need the Tracking for these if they have already been shipped.

I've had a chat with the press, and pretty much all the books were shipped from the UK to the US before September 15th.
The books can be printed in the UK and the US. Because of the pandemic, the US print told me that they were backed up by 6 weeks, so I went with the much more expensive method of shipping most books from the UK, hoping that they would arrive by late September. Now, it looks like with everything in crisis, shipping of books is a sh*tstorm of delay. I even mailed an express tracked letter from Europe to Canada to my bank, and it took 3 weeks. So far it seems European orders have been received, but several US orders have not. In hindsight, I should have gone with the 6-week US delay, but didn't think that was fair and wanted everyone to get their books around the same time Looks like that was a mistake.

I'm currently hurrying up the final market launch within the next 10 days or so, and after that, I'll be following up with every single shipment and making life heck for the people in distribution. Anything that actually ends up lost (about 2% of book orders in normal times), will be reshipped from the US in due time.

I do apologize for the delay; I really wanted to get the books out to everyone ASAP so as to use the 'hivemind' to point out editing needs.

The Finnish Picture Magazine did an article about BLOCKLAND. Signed copies of the magazine available at-cost.

https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=5316507.new#new