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Julie Strauss-Gabel

editor · in 90 videos (2007–2026)

John's editor and publisher, who has edited every book he has written since his first and gives him a voice in his US covers.

Speaks in 1 video; this page lists what is said about them.

Videos by year: 2007: 21 · 2008: 11 · 2009: 2 · 2010: 1 · 2011: 24 · 2012: 7 · 2013: 3 · 2014: 3 · 2015: 3 · 2016: 2 · 2017: 1 · 2019: 1 · 2021: 1 · 2022: 2 · 2023: 2 · 2025: 4 · 2026: 2

Threads

Also named in the threads: John: how Looking for Alaska was written, revised and won the Printz Award (2006) · Looking for Alaska 10th anniversary edition (2014)

Often together

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

Rodrigo Corral (2) · Augustus Waters (3) · An Abundance of Katherines (4) · Paper Towns (7) · Looking for Alaska (novel) (6) · The Fault in Our Stars (6) · Turtles All the Way Down (4) · Maureen Johnson (3) · Amazon (2) · meaning of life (2)

What the videos say

The most important statements of each year; all statements.

2007

2008

  • 2008-04-14 · PAPER TOWNS-TACULAR — announcement: John's publisher has let him share the covers: Paper Towns will have two different covers with identical books inside, and readers can pick either. — 00:00:43
    • John shows an advance reader's copy of Paper Towns, printed about three days ago for librarians and reviewers before the book's October 16 publication. — 00:01:12
  • 2008-09-04 · Paper Towns Tour Dates! — announcement: John shows the first two finished copies of Paper Towns, which has two different covers (happy Margo and sad Margo) with the same book inside. — 00:00:00
  • 2008-10-06 · Berlin and Let it Snow (in Your Pants) — announcement: John says his new book Paper Towns comes out in ten days. — 00:03:22
  • 2008-10-09 · Let it Snow Let it Snow Let it Snow — announcement: Hank says people who pre-ordered Paper Towns from Barnes & Noble have already received the book, well ahead of release. — 00:00:31
  • 2008-10-11 (said on 2008-10-10, implied) · Question Friday — John says Paper Towns comes out in six days and is the culmination of two and a half years of his life. (playful) — 00:01:43
  • 2008-10-14 · Paper Towns Reading — announcement: John tells Hank he will read from his new book Paper Towns, which comes out on Thursday, over his next couple of videos. (hedged) — 00:00:00
  • 2008-10-16 (said on 2008-10-15, implied) · Paper Towns Collab Album Project!!! — announcement: Hank says John's book Paper Towns comes out tomorrow, October 16th, its official release date. — 00:00:00
  • 2008-10-24 · Talking to Myself — announcement: Hank: John found out he will debut at number five on the New York Times bestseller list for young adult fiction. — 00:01:07
    • Hank says Paper Towns so deserves to be a bestseller and he is so excited that it is. — 00:02:27
  • 2008-10-24 · Paper Towns MOVIE1!!!11! — announcement: John thanks Hank and the Nerdfighters for making it possible for Paper Towns to debut at number five on the New York Times bestseller list next week (week of 27 October 2008). — 00:00:51
  • 2008-10-30 (said on 2008-10-29, implied) · Hank is Late (dr horrible) — announcement: Hank announces Paper Towns will spend a second week on the New York Times bestseller list, at number six, showing people beyond the first Nerdfighter rush are still buying it. — 00:01:23
  • …and 3 statements more in 2008 — all statements of 2008

2009

  • 2009-04-14 · The World's Largest Balls — John says he is something of an expert on the world's largest balls because the first draft of Paper Towns was largely devoted to them; only a small vestige remains in the book. — 00:00:00
    • Noting that two major balls of twine have mailboxes, John writes the ball of twine a letter: it says something interesting about America, but he couldn't figure out what, so he cut it from his novel. (playful) — 00:02:47
  • …and 1 statement more in 2009 — all statements of 2009

2010

  • 2010-06-25 (said on 2010-06-26, implied) · Book Nerd PARADISE — announcement: Julie Strauss-Gabel: Asked whether the new book will be John's next book for sure, his editor says yes; she says she loves it, though she has not finished it. (playful) — 00:00:34
    • Julie Strauss-Gabel: John's editor describes the book: a desert island, a dangerously attractive boy who's up to no good (John demurs), and a girl narrator. — 00:00:34
    • John talks with his editor, Julie Strauss-Gabel, about his new book on camera. — 00:00:34

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
  • 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
    • Hank says Time Magazine said John was 'damn near genius', then teases him about the 'near'. — 00:01:27
  • 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
  • 2012-11-13 · I Was a Child Poet. And a Bad One. — announcement: John explains that the donation means interested researchers can visit the de Grummond Collection to look through dozens of drafts of each of his novels and read his editorial correspondence with Julie; he calls the collection an amazing resource and feels very lucky to be part of it. — video description
    • 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
    • John is donating all the drafts of his books, with his correspondence with editor Julie Strauss-Gabel, to the de Grummond children's library at the University of Southern Mississippi, to be archived forever. — 00:03:06
  • 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 1 statement 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
    • John says books seem one person's work, but TFIOS was partly written by Esther, his wife, Julie Strauss-Gabel, Jodi Reamer, John Darnielle, Hank and T. S. Eliot. — 00:59:48
    • For the finale John brings out the performers, his parents, Julie Strauss-Gabel, Jodi Reamer, Elyse Marshall who made the evening possible, Sean Titone, Katherine, Sarah (whom he first forgot) and Valerie2776. — 02:50:08
  • 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
  • 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

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
  • 2014-04-15 · Walking the Red Carpet: Thoughts from Los Angeles — John met Rainbow Rowell, then went to USC for the LA Times book festival, where his editor Julie Strauss-Gabel talked with 15-year-old Maya Van Wagenen, author of the memoir Popular. — 00:00:17

2015

2016

2017

  • 2017-06-22 · My New Book — John thanks his editor Julie Strauss-Gabel, who has edited every book he has written and worked with him on this story for years, everyone at Penguin Random House, and everyone who sent him encouraging notes or comments over the years. — video description

2019

  • 2019-04-23 · untitled — John: With every book John at some point wants to call it 'More Light Than Heat', and his publisher Julie Strauss-Gabel says no. (playful) — 00:00:58
    • 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

2021

  • 2021-03-16 · How a Book Cover Gets Designed — John has always had a voice in his US covers thanks to Julie Strauss-Gabel, his editor since his first book was published 16 years ago. — 00:00:29
    • The cover began with John and Julie talking about Hiroyuki Doi's artwork, John's circle drawings, road trips, microorganisms, the Bonneville Salt Flats, sunsets and their favorite book designers. — 00:00:58
    • Julie asked Grace, who read the book and developed a few possible covers; John was immediately drawn to one showing interweaving bands of color. — 00:01:27

2022

2023

  • 2023-01-10 · Introducing: The Format — John notes The Fault in Our Stars came out 11 years ago today (10 January 2012) and calls it a strange 11 years. — 00:00:00
  • 2023-11-07 · NaFaDoYBIMSCoM — John completed a draft of The Fault in Our Stars in mid-December 2010 after attempting NaFaDoYBIMSCoM. — 00:02:14
    • John completed a draft of Paper Towns in November 2007 during his first NaFaDoYBIMSCoM. — 00:02:14

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
  • 2025-10-07 · 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
  • 2025-11-24 · Good Store Holiday Gift Guide LIVE with Hank and John — John: Asked about new books, John says a new book is coming but not this year (2025) and probably not next; that morning he emailed Julie asking what publication target a second draft by January 1 would allow. (hedged) — 00:07:43

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