xkcd Book Coming This Summer

Andy Chalk

One Flag, One Fleet, One Cat
Nov 12, 2002
45,698
1
0
xkcd Book Coming This Summer


xkcd [http://www.xkcd.com], the popular webcomic of "romance, sarcasm, math and language" will be making its first leap to the printed page in a book scheduled to come out in June.

The book is being published by reddit [http://breadpig.com/index.html] co-founder Alexis Ohanian. Ohanian said the working title is simply xkcd, although a subtitle like "a book of romance, sarcasm, math and language" may be added. The book will be sold exclusively through the xkcd website.

"It doesn't need to be in bookstores. I don't have hard numbers about this, but the impression I get is that the amount of eyeballs you get from being on the humor shelf at Barnes & Noble [http://www.barnesandnoble.com/] - it is almost insignificant," said xkcd creator Randall Munroe, explaining that he'd been contacted by conventional publishers about his webcomic. "The traditional model is they send us a royalty, and they handle getting it sold. We figure that most of our audience is people who know us from the internet - normal publishers weren't as interested."

The book will get an initial print run of 10,000 copies and is expected to sell for $19. "We never made any projection - 10,000 seems like a good run," Ohanian said, adding that this lack of research "is laughable from the perspective of anyone who knows the book industry. It's what makes sense." The book will include 150-200 comics as well as a forward and "red-ink commentary" on some of the strips by the author.

Munroe also suggested that copyright on the book would take its cue from the webcomic, which is licensed under Creative Commons [http://www.barnesandnoble.com/], allowing users to copy and share the comics for non-commercial purposes. "To anyone who wants to photocopy, bind, and give a copy of the book to their loved one - more power to them," he said. "He/She will likely be disappointed that you're so cheap, though."

Source: Boing Boing [http://www.nytimes.com/2009/04/20/business/media/20link.html?8dpc]


Permalink
 

Resistance205

New member
Jun 3, 2008
593
0
0
Oh god....thats going to be so awesome! I love that webcomic, and having it with me is going to be great! I can read it in school on free classes!
 

TsunamiWombat

New member
Sep 6, 2008
5,870
0
0
I've never heard of this, but this guy giving the finger to CP and book stores makes me interested.
 

vultureX21

New member
Feb 26, 2009
300
0
0
This is so weird that I did my review of xkcd today and it's now going to be released in hardcopy. Absolutely be getting this, if anyone is interested in the review it's under Webcomic Review: xkcd in the forums.
 

Lord_Ascendant

New member
Jan 14, 2008
2,909
0
0
oh yipee. I am still waiting for my Volume I of LFG to come in. I think UPS lost it somewhere around Uzbekistan.....
 

The Brian J

New member
Apr 18, 2009
177
0
0
This makes me so happy.

XKCD is one of the best written webcomics out there, with jokes ranging from hilarious to just plain brilliant.

I will proudly be buying this the second it comes out.
 

Fineldar

New member
Jun 8, 2008
214
0
0
I don't see any alttext at the bottom of the page or something. There's an entire extra, and sometimes funnier, joke in the alt-text.
 

Jumplion

New member
Mar 10, 2008
7,873
0
0
I still really want to know what XKCD means.....(I know it doesn't mean anything, but still.....the wonders of the X and the K and the C and the D could hold!!)