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Amazon

company · in 107 videos (2007–2026)

Online retailer the brothers name as a place to buy or pre-order books, including signed copies, though Hank urges buying from local bookstores instead. Hank also cites it as convenience that hides workers from sight and makes things hard for everyone else.

Makes: Amazon Kindle, Amazon Prime, AmazonSmile

Videos by year: 2007: 1 · 2008: 3 · 2010: 1 · 2011: 32 · 2012: 9 · 2013: 6 · 2014: 6 · 2015: 2 · 2016: 1 · 2017: 12 · 2018: 3 · 2019: 4 · 2020: 8 · 2021: 4 · 2022: 2 · 2023: 3 · 2024: 3 · 2025: 5 · 2026: 2

Website: Amazon.com

Threads

Also named in the threads: Hank asks Nerdfighters to buy and read 13 Little Blue Envelopes for the Blurbing Book Club (2008) · Hank asks viewers to pre-order Paper Towns (2008) · John: sign every copy of The Fault in Our Stars (2011) · A bookseller ships over a thousand copies of The Fault in Our Stars three weeks early (December 2011) · Subbable: launch of the brothers' pay-what-you-want subscription service, starting with Crash Course (2013) · Incongruent: Hank's album with Hank Green and the Perfect Strangers (2013) · Hank points viewers to pre-order Incongruent, Hank Green and the Perfect Strangers' album, at DFTBA.com (2014) · John asks viewers to pre-order signed copies of Turtles All the Way Down (2017) · John: answer viewers' questions about Turtles All the Way Down in next Tuesday's video (2017) · Turtles All the Way Down: announcement and publication of John's novel (2017) · An Absolutely Remarkable Thing: announcement and publication of Hank's first novel (2017) · Hank asks viewers to pre-order An Absolutely Remarkable Thing (2018) · Hank asks viewers to pre-order A Beautifully Foolish Endeavor (2019) · The Anthropocene Reviewed book: announcement and publication (2020) · Everything Is Tuberculosis: John's nonfiction book about tuberculosis (2024) · John asks viewers to pre-order and buy signed copies of Everything Is Tuberculosis (2024)

Often together

What comes up in the same parts of the videos; the number is how many parts.

Barnes & Noble (11) · Turtles All the Way Down (9) · The Fault in Our Stars (13) · Sharpie (3) · Canada (4) · The Anthropocene Reviewed (book) (4) · Julie Strauss-Gabel (2) · A Beautifully Foolish Endeavor (3) · An Absolutely Remarkable Thing (3) · doobly-doo (4)

What the videos say

The most important statements of each year; all statements.

2007

2008

  • 2008-02-19 · Your Spying Thieving Valentine: Hank — ask: Hank urges viewers who haven't bought 13 Little Blue Envelopes to buy it so they can take part in the Blurbing Book Club, saying Amazon delivery will be fast. — 00:00:32
    • Hank put an affiliate link in the sidebar Amazon link, earning 25 cents per copy of 13 Little Blue Envelopes sold; so far it has made about $10. — 00:00:58
    • Hank says the affiliate reports also show what people buy, and that Nerdfighters' buying habits are 'interesting', meaning nerdy; he lists examples. (playful) — 00:00:58
  • 2008-07-27 · How to Buy Glasses Cheap...and Help Hank Pick Frames! — recommendation: Hank says never to buy glasses in a brick-and-mortar store, but to look the serial number up at home on Amazon or other sites. — 00:01:09
    • Hank says the same frames can be bought online for hundreds of dollars less. — 00:01:38
  • 2008-10-09 · Let it Snow Let it Snow Let it Snow — Hank is glad for Nerdfighters who got early copies as a prize for pre-ordering and thanks them; Amazon customers can feel good, since Amazon followed the publisher's wishes. — 00:00:31

2010

  • 2010-02-10 · HOW TO GET AN AGENT — announcement: Maureen Johnson: Maureen's new novel Scarlett Fever has just come out and is available from local independent booksellers, Barnes and Noble or, if necessary, Amazon. — video description

2011

  • 2011-03-09 · DANDY LIONS! It's Question Day — announcement: John says his new book comes out in almost exactly one year. — 00:00:54
  • 2011-03-28 · Participatory Geometry — announcement: John says he just learned his new book is definitely coming out in March, not in two days but the next March, and he should settle on a title soon. — 00:01:20
  • 2011-04-20 · Tulipomania — John says he is really in Amsterdam, not before a green screen, for two months finishing his new book; the reason for Amsterdam will become obvious when you read it. — 00:00:03
  • 2011-05-18 · The Education Continuum WARNER CHILCOTTED — John says that in the last 24 hours he finished the big revision of his novel. — 00:00:04
  • 2011-06-29 · THE FAULT IN OUR STARS — announcement: John: The Fault in Our Stars is number one on both Amazon and Barnes & Noble; John thanks everyone who pre-ordered it. — 00:00:29
  • 2011-07-01 · Humping the Town — Hank says The Fault in Our Stars has been number one on the Amazon and Barnes & Noble bestseller charts four days running with almost no publicity. — 00:00:29
  • 2011-08-15 · HANKLERFISH! — announcement: John says he brought the sheets because he cannot take a week off from signing: everyone who pre-orders The Fault in Our Stars gets a signed book, and 5% will be Hanklerfished. — 00:03:00
  • 2011-08-26 · Will He Kiss You? Am I a Muggle? It's Question Friday. — announcement: John says all pre-orders of The Fault in Our Stars will be signed, wherever ordered (Amazon UK, England, Canada); the whole first printing is being signed, but only pre-orders are guaranteed. — 00:00:56
  • 2011-10-28 · Reading Chapter One of The Fault in Our Stars — announcement: John: Instead of a real video, John reads the first chapter of The Fault in Our Stars as a live-show video, something he has long wanted to do. — 00:00:26
  • 2011-11-21 · Old Man Narrates Young Girl — announcement: John: There will be two audiobooks of The Fault in Our Stars: the real one narrated by Kate Rudd, available everywhere, and John's, only in a physical limited-edition box set from DFTBA. — 00:00:41
  • 2011-12-05 · 5 Worst Typos of History — John shows the finished copy of The Fault in Our Stars that came in the mail, one of the few unsigned copies. — 00:00:03
  • 2011-12-23 · There Will Be NO SPOILERS!!! — John thanks Amazon and every independent bookstore for not shipping their pre-orders after the leak, which lets the January 10 publication date stand. — 00:02:50
  • …and 44 statements more in 2011 — all statements of 2011

2012

  • 2012-01-10 (said on 2012-01-09, implied) · The Fault in Our Stars — announcement: John says The Fault in Our Stars comes out today, January 10, 2012, though he is filming on Monday, January 9, because he is busy tomorrow. — 00:00:00
    • John says TFIOS grew from his work almost twelve years ago as a student chaplain at a children's hospital; he has been trying ever since to write a funny, honest story about it. — 00:00:28 · also in: TAKE IT DOWN A NOTCH
  • 2012-01-13 (said on 2012-01-10, implied) · TFiOS PARTY! — Hank tells John he is really proud of him and of The Fault in Our Stars: every review has been fantastic, everyone on Amazon loves it, and Hank loves it. — 00:00:42
    • Hank thanks everyone who has bought and is reading The Fault in Our Stars and posting pictures of themselves with it on Tumblr. — 00:01:32
  • 2012-01-27 · In 'N' Out-Erview — announcement: Hank introduces John as the number one New York Times best-selling author of The Fault in Our Stars. — 00:00:51
    • John: Asked how being number one feels, John calls it ridiculous, says he loves Nerdfighteria and that, much as he'd like credit, it has nothing to do with him. — 00:00:51
  • 2012-02-14 · Things I Can Do — recommendation: John says both brothers are obsessed with the new website Gumroad, which connects makers directly to fans without PayPal, Amazon or iTunes, taking a smaller cut than PayPal; he invites viewers to upload and sell their stuff. — 00:02:55
  • 2012-03-20 · Sharpie Face Question Tuesday — John says The Fault in Our Stars is currently number 2 on the New York Times bestseller list, behind only Hugo Cabret, a book he really liked. — 00:01:41
  • 2012-03-27 · Wrong but Right: Thoughts from Places Amsterdam — John says the trip supported the publication of the Dutch edition of The Fault in Our Stars; he gave a series of interviews in the hotel library. — 00:01:13
  • 2012-06-08 · How to be More Productive...With Hank! — recommendation: Hank: As mock productivity tips, Hank claims to put his pants on two legs at a time, walk a faster way, replace meals with 2,000 calories of Muscle Milk, get medical procedures in bulk and script his Amazon orders. (parody) — 00:00:17
  • 2012-11-13 · I Was a Child Poet. And a Bad One. — announcement: John announces that Amazon.com named The Fault in Our Stars one of the ten best books of 2012 overall, not just for teenagers, right behind Dave Eggers and ahead of Junot Díaz. — 00:00:05
  • 2012-12-04 · Time for AWESOME — John says Time Magazine has just named The Fault in Our Stars first on its list of the top ten novels of 2012, ahead of Hilary Mantel, Zadie Smith, Junot Diaz and J.K. Rowling, and he is overwhelmed. — 00:00:00
  • …and 2 statements more in 2012 — all statements of 2012

2013

  • 2013-01-15 · An Evening of Awesome at Carnegie Hall — John says none of those books addressed what he saw at the hospital, which left him feeling only nihilism; then he became friends with Esther Earl and became a father. — 00:53:28
    • John says Henry's birth showed him he'll be Henry's dad as long as either lives; that love is in this sense stronger than death was very important to TFIOS. — 00:53:48
    • John says Esther, a Nerdfighter reader very sick with cancer when they met in 2009, taught him what Augustus learns: the real hero's journey goes from strength to weakness. — 00:54:11
    • John says the realization that Esther's short life was still a good, rich and full life was central to The Fault in Our Stars. — 00:55:41
  • 2013-02-19 · Doing Things, On the Importance of — John's novel The Fault in Our Stars returned to number one on the New York Times bestseller list, 56 weeks after it came out. — 00:00:00
    • Hank's 2D glasses, which render 3D movies in two dimensions, were an idea John thought terrible that turned out brilliant; the 2D glasses empire grows by the day. (playful) — 00:03:14
  • 2013-04-23 · DOCTOR GREEN — John says The Fault in Our Stars, fifteen months after publication, is back at No. 1 on the New York Times bestseller list, passing Stephen Chbosky's The Perks of Being a Wallflower, now No. 2. — 00:02:22
  • 2013-07-26 · Introducing Subbable — ask: Hank asks viewers, which he calls weird, to pay for content because they want to, not because they are forced to: a cultural shift. — 00:02:13
    • Hank spells out subbable.com and asks viewers to go there, help fund Crash Course, and 'defy capitalism'. (playful) — 00:02:59
  • 2013-08-06 · Million Dollar Ideas — John recalls refusing Hank's request for $1,000 to start the 2D glasses company ('go suck it'). (playful) — 00:02:50
  • 2013-08-30 · Raw Onion, Twerking, and Speech Jam — announcement: Hank says Subbable had a snafu with Amazon and recurring payments: monthly subscriptions were cancelled because they were not following all of Amazon's rules; now they are. — 00:03:00
    • Hank asks Subbable subscribers to sign back in and re-up their subscriptions; Subbable has been very successful, and if everyone re-subscribes Crash Course will be safe, but only 50% have so far. — 00:03:12

2014

  • 2014-01-21 · Are Poor Countries Doomed? — John says the Brazilian edition of The Fault in Our Stars, whose title he butchers in Portuguese, has sold hundreds of thousands of copies in Brazil, more than in Germany or the UK. — 00:03:16
  • 2014-02-18 · 18 Great Books You Probably Haven't Read — announcement: John reports that The Fault in Our Stars is number one on the USA Today and New York Times bestseller lists this week (week of 17 February 2014), which he calls bananas. — 00:00:01
  • 2014-02-28 · The Cost of Fun — Hank says The Fault in Our Stars is currently on sale at Amazon for $7. — 00:01:33
    • Hank sees those extra 67 cents an hour as what he pays the local bookstore instead of Amazon, for a place to look at books, nice people who help him, shelves of opportunity. — 00:01:56
  • 2014-05-09 · Oh JK Rowling - Kinetic Typography — announcement: Hank announces Incongruent is officially released, on iTunes, Google Play, Amazon and DFTBA Records, where physical copies also come with a download link. — 00:01:52
  • 2014-05-30 · Nerdfighteria Census 2014 Results! — Hank explains Subbable as a voluntary subscription platform where subscribers choose any monthly amount, even zero, which keeps the shows available to everyone, including people who can't pay. — 00:02:02
  • 2014-11-07 · New Crash Course and Pizzamas! — Hank: People chose to give money through Subbable; Hank says Crash Course relies hugely on that support, which lets it make better and more content, and he could never be more grateful. — 00:02:02

2015

  • 2015-03-20 · A Sacrifice of Individuality and the Internets — Hank thanks Patreon patrons funding SciShow and Crash Course; they are almost two-thirds of the way to pre-Patreon-switch funding levels. — 00:01:33
  • 2015-10-16 · Post-NerdCon Haze — recommendation: Hank recommends visiting Shakespeare and Company in Missoula, saying local bookstores are part of the fabric holding a community together; think of that next time on Amazon. — 00:02:09

2016

2017

  • 2017-05-05 · Sick and Tired — Hank worries that more and more labor is moved out of sight: where he once talked to a person to buy a USB cable, he now clicks on Amazon while unseen workers deliver it; maybe economically good, but not good for human satisfaction and happiness. — video description
  • 2017-06-22 · My New Book — announcement: John: Amazon and Barnes & Noble have sold through their allocations of signed copies of Turtles All the Way Down; unsigned copies can still be pre-ordered there. — video description · also in: UNBOXING, Signing 200,000 Autographs
  • 2017-06-27 · UNBOXING — announcement: John: Turtles All the Way Down has two ISBNs, one for signed books; bookstores, Target and Amazon will all have signed copies, and ordering that ISBN gives the best chance of a signature at no extra cost. — 00:02:08
  • 2017-07-11 · Signing 200,000 Autographs — John: Asked whether his signature is worth negative four dollars on Amazon, John thinks it is negative three: the signed edition is currently cheaper there than the unsigned one. (hedged) — 00:00:34
  • 2017-07-28 · Why You Haven't Started a Business — Hank says money pumped into the stock market pushes gigantic businesses to grow or die, so behemoths take over old and new markets, as Amazon and Netflix have. — 00:02:22
  • 2017-08-01 · Death and How to Avoid It (...for a while) — announcement: John says Amazon has sold through its allocation of signed copies of Turtles All the Way Down; unsigned copies are still available for preorder there, and other places sell probably signed copies. — video description
    • John says Amazon will soon run out of its signed Turtles All the Way Down copies, though bookstores across the US and Canada will have many, with updates at probablysignedturtles.com; Amazon buyers should buy now. (hedged) — 00:03:28
  • 2017-08-15 · Very Hard to Desclibe — announcement: John says Amazon has sold out its allotment of probably signed copies of Turtles All the Way Down, but many remain, for instance at Books-A-Million; more at ProbablySignedTurtles.com. — 00:01:47
  • 2017-08-29 · 40 — announcement: John says Amazon and barnesandnoble.com have sold out their allotments of signed copies, but there are many other ways to get them; more info at probablysignedturtles.com. — 00:02:39
  • 2017-10-17 · Look at Tiny Baby Hank — announcement: John: Turtles All the Way Down has reached number one on Amazon's bestseller list. — 00:01:23
  • 2017-12-15 · Why Big Solutions Fail — Hank says it takes almost as much energy and work to get something he ordered off Amazon from China to the Missoula distribution warehouse as from that warehouse to his house. — 00:00:24
  • 2017-12-22 · Christmas Questions Answered (With Katherine and Hank) — announcement: Hank: Turtles All the Way Down was named a best book of the year by twelve outlets including The New York Times, Time, NPR and Booklist, and is in bookstores. — 00:02:17
  • …and 3 statements more in 2017 — all statements of 2017

2018

2019

  • 2019-02-22 · I Don't Want The Same Things Anymore — Hank says the business relied on him realizing, accepting and being excited that he didn't want it to make billions and be sold to Amazon. — 00:01:56
  • 2019-04-23 · untitled — John: The Fault in Our Stars was very nearly titled 'The Sequel' or 'The Sequels'; in April 2011 emails Julie told John, politely, that it was not a good title. — 00:01:27
  • 2019-04-26 · It's Time to Care About "Business" — Hank says that after starting out 'being dumb with a camcorder' in 2007 he became, over years, CEO of four different companies, not counting 2D Glasses, without really knowing how. — 00:01:27
  • 2019-05-10 · The Worst Product Ever — Hank weighs the FlexPlay DVD at 16 grams and sets it beside the plastic that shipped his Metamucil from Amazon, a vitamin-named sugar water bottle and a coffee cup from his garbage. — 00:00:58

2020

  • 2020-02-28 · I'M FINE EVERYTHING IS FINE — announcement: The description says signed pre-orders are available only in US stores (Amazon, BN.com, BAM). — video description
  • 2020-04-24 · The Sharpest Tool in the Shed — Hank says he spent an irresponsibly large amount on permanent markers on Amazon, often having to buy the whole rainbow to get one black marker, and really enjoyed the process. (playful) — 00:00:00
  • 2020-05-22 · The Meteor Men Beg to Differ // Judging by the Hole in the Satellite Picture — ask: Hank says his book is out July 7th and available for pre-order now, including at bookshop.org, where the price matches Amazon but supports local bookshops. — 00:03:21
  • 2020-05-29 · Get Paid — Hank: Spotify's exclusive deals for Joe Rogan and Last Podcast on the Left worry Hank more: Twitch versus Mixer is Amazon versus Microsoft, but Spotify moves podcasts from an open ecosystem into a closed, company-owned one. — 00:02:58
  • 2020-09-01 · get the show on — In a comment John says a separate ISBN for signed copies would confuse thousands of buyers and let Amazon control and resell many signed copies, while he wants to support local bookstores. — creator comment
  • 2020-12-08 · A Love Letter to My Brother, Basically — John recalls Hank inventing 2D glasses for 3D movies and projecting a million sales; John expected about 12, and Hank sold thousands. (playful) — 00:00:29
  • …and 1 statement more in 2020 — all statements of 2020

Also named in: Only Shooting Stars

2021

  • 2021-05-25 · The Anthropocene Reviewed, Animated — John: The five-star scale has been used in criticism only for a few decades: occasionally for film as early as the 1950s, for hotels only from 1979, and widely for books only after Amazon introduced user reviews. — 00:04:56
  • 2021-06-25 · The Surprising Origin of Crash Course — Hank says Crash Course and Complexly have funded themselves creatively: advertising, grants from organizations that understand the mission, Subbable, then Patreon, and now the Crash Course coin. — 00:02:40
  • 2021-07-20 · Reviewing Reviews of My Reviews — John says that on both Goodreads and Amazon The Anthropocene Reviewed has a much higher average rating than any of his other books. — 00:00:29
  • 2021-11-09 · Hank Green's Million Dollar Ideas — John says his first failure was in 2009: Hank pitched glasses that render 3D movies in 2D for people who get headaches, and John called it the worst idea he'd ever heard. — 00:00:58

2022

  • 2022-01-11 · The Fault in Our Stars - Ten Years Later — announcement: John: The Fault in Our Stars was first published ten years ago yesterday (10 January 2012). — 00:00:00
  • 2022-09-28 · How My Book Became a Hit with Elderly People — John: Some Amazon buyers click 'paperback' and accidentally buy the large print edition of The Anthropocene Reviewed. — 00:01:25
    • The biggest reason: the hardcover sold out at Amazon after many people ordered it at once for Sharon McMahon's book club, thousands in a single day. — 00:01:55
    • With only the large print edition in stock, Amazon's algorithm marketed it as the primary edition, and people bought more of it than they had of the hardcover. — 00:01:55
    • The algorithm concluded people prefer the large print edition and has shown it disproportionately for four months, making it a USA Today bestseller. — 00:02:24
    • Because the large print edition sells well, Amazon recommends the book to people who mostly buy large print editions, who tend to be elderly, producing more large print sales. — 00:02:53

2023

2024

  • 2024-11-13 · Some New Things… — Hank says free shipping does not exist except as an idea: someone, here Good Store, pays for it, and Amazon makes it hard for everyone else. — 00:40:35
    • Hank says Good Store spreads its deals out before Black Friday because a small company can't ship as efficiently as Amazon, and a steady stream spares warehouse workers. — 00:52:33
  • 2024-12-31 · I Just Can't Do It Anymore — John: On Amazon the signed edition of Everything Is Tuberculosis currently costs $7 less than the unsigned one, so, John jokes, his signature is technically worth negative $7. (playful) — 00:03:05

Also named in: I Believed These Four Lies

2025

  • 2025-04-15 · Chatting with ... a U.S. Senator? — John explains the title writes against Shakespeare's line that the fault is not in our stars: there is much fault in our stars, bad luck and structural injustice. — 00:19:38
  • 2025-06-03 · My Lies — John says that before The Fault in Our Stars he confidently said on the channel his next book would be about kids on a desert island; he wrote most of it, but it had no reason for being, so he wrote the book that became The Fault in Our Stars. — 00:01:21
  • 2025-08-19 · The Problem with My Brother's Hit New App — John says that ever since inventing 2D glasses Hank has been on a non-stop run of making things; each new idea gives John gray hairs, so he asks Hank to slow down. (playful) — 00:03:50
  • 2025-10-07 · Luck vs. Work vs. Skill vs. Privilege — John was especially lucky with The Fault in Our Stars: Nerdfighteria and his publisher backed it, adults were reading YA, Time called it the best book of the year, and the movie did well. — 00:03:16
  • 2025-12-09 · Hank Green, from A to Z — John says Hank even has numbers covered with 2D Glasses, which render 3D movies in two dimensions and which he invented fifteen years ago. — 00:05:21

2026

  • 2026-07-07 · On the Death of the Author — John: In The Fault in Our Stars John invented Peter Van Houten, an author who meets a dying young reader, knowing readers knew the book was partly inspired by his meeting Esther Earl. — 00:04:25
  • 2026-09-22 · I Want You to Know Nothing About This — John recalls that when The Fault in Our Stars came out 14 years ago, a few hundred people got it a month early, and he was devastated, expecting the plot to leak online. — 00:03:14