Skip to content

The Fault in Our Stars

novel · in 217 videos (2007–2026)

The Fault in Our Stars is John's novel about two teenage cancer survivors obsessed with a reclusive novelist, published on January 10, 2012. Its very public success was followed by almost five years without a new book from John.

By: John Green · Part of: John's untitled novel (2011) · Adapted as: The Fault in Our Stars (film) · Within: Hazel Grace Lancaster, Augustus Waters, An Imperial Affliction, Isaac (character, “The Fault in Our Stars”), Peter Van Houten, The Hectic Glow, Monica (character, “The Fault in Our Stars”), Patrick (character, “The Fault in Our Stars”), Hazel's mom (The Fault in Our Stars), Literal Heart of Jesus, Phalanxifor, The Price of Dawn, vaguely pedophilic swing set · Spin-offs: Our Little Infinity poster, The Fault in Our Stars special edition audiobook, TFIOS Preparedness Pack

Videos by year: 2007: 1 · 2010: 1 · 2011: 51 · 2012: 25 · 2013: 27 · 2014: 28 · 2015: 8 · 2016: 8 · 2017: 10 · 2018: 5 · 2019: 3 · 2020: 5 · 2021: 7 · 2022: 5 · 2023: 7 · 2024: 6 · 2025: 8 · 2026: 12

Also known as: TFIOS

Threads

Also named in the threads: John's wife Sarah as 'the Yeti' (2007) · Four-minute rule for vlogbrothers videos (2007) · John's 'the puff' stress habit (2007) · Truth or Fail game-show videos (2009) · John: the brothers will do another Tour de Nerdfighting (2009) · John takes the line 'Imagining the future is a kind of nostalgia' from Sarah on their first date for Looking for Alaska (told 2016) · John asks Nerdfighters to tell someone they love that they love them on Esther Day (2010) · Esther Day: the brothers' annual videos on Esther Earl's birthday about what she chooses (2010) · John works in Miami to finish an overdue draft of his book (2010) · John's two-month move to the Netherlands (April 2011) · DFTBA posters: Nerdfighter-designed posters sold at DFTBA.com (2011) · Hank's album Ellen Hardcastle: release (2011) · John: create safe spoilery places for discussing The Fault in Our Stars (2011) · John asks Nerdfighters whether he should read the audiobook of The Fault in Our Stars (2011) · John's time as a student chaplain at a children's hospital (c. 2000) · Hank asks viewers for punishment ideas for his missed video, via comments or #punishHank (2011) · Hanklerfish: an anglerfish drawn by a Hank (2011) · John and his family visit Hank in Missoula (August 2011) · An Abundance of Katherines fan cover contest (2011) · Crash Course: launch of the brothers' educational channel (2011) · SciShow: launch of Hank's science channel (2011) · Live Question Tuesday at Carnegie Hall: electric shock for whoever is talking when time runs out (2012) · The Lizzie Bennet Diaries web series (2012) · An Evening of Awesome at Carnegie Hall (2013) · John: share an e-book of his stories with P4A 2012 contributors (2012) · John: the Fault in Our Stars film is actually going to happen (2013) · John predicts The Fault in Our Stars movie will be a good movie (2013) · Nerdfighteria Census 2014 edition · Paper Towns film: production and release (2014) · John's cameo as 'Girl's Father' is cut from the TFIOS film (2014)

Often together

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

The Fault in Our Stars (film) (39) · Augustus Waters (19) · Hazel Grace Lancaster (22) · Turtles All the Way Down (23) · Fox 2000 Pictures (5) · Penguin Books (8) · Amazon (13) · Looking for Alaska (novel) (20) · The Anthropocene Reviewed (book) (14) · Barnes & Noble (6)

What the videos say

The most important statements of each year; all statements.

2007

  • 2007-01-03 · Brotherhood 2.0: January 3rd — Hank says being John's brother is frustrating: people tell him he looks like John and jokes like him, only less funny. (playful) — 00:00:13

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

  • 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
  • 2011-04-20 · 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
  • 2011-06-10 · Then I Took Off My Bra — announcement: John says he and Hank will go on tour in the United States when his new, as-yet-untitled but soon-to-be-titled book comes out. — 00:02:15
  • 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
  • 2011-10-14 · Defying Wadsworth! — John has now signed his name over 100,000 times in his mission to sign every copy of the first printing of The Fault in Our Stars; to those who think he cheats or uses a stamp, he shows himself signing. — 00:00:47
  • 2011-10-21 · Signing Psychosis, BlizzCon, TFiOS, Awesome Adventures, and URLatron — Hank's view: it's the kind of bold, iconic, timeless cover publishers give books they want to become classics, and having read the book he knows it fits. — 00:02:26
  • 2011-11-02 · LECTROJOG! — John shows his signing progress meter: he is almost at 150,000 signed copies, but almost does not count. — 00:00:00
  • 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
  • 2011-12-09 · Puppies and The Tour de Nerdfighting 2012 — announcement: John announces that three and a half years later he, Hank and Katherine are going back on tour to celebrate the release of The Fault in Our Stars, in a slightly larger vehicle. — 00:00:00
  • 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 132 statements more in 2011 — all statements of 2011

Also named in: John Green is an IDIOT! And so are you.

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
  • 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
  • 2012-01-31 · How It Felt — John says the three weeks were like the internet became IRL: fun, clever, crowded, good to be a nerd, with talk of Sherlock and Doctor Who and singing of songs about particle physics. — 00:00:01
  • 2012-02-14 · Things I Can Do — announcement: John: For readers who have finished The Fault in Our Stars, and only for them, John has created a password-protected blog with his answers to questions, where they can comment and discuss the book. — 00:01:57
  • 2012-02-21 · Life is Weird. Also beautiful. — John says Miss Peregrine was an instant bestseller; a few months later The Fault in Our Stars came out, and next week (week of 27 February 2012) their books will be #1 and #2 on the New York Times bestseller list. — 00:02:25
  • 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
  • 2012-05-01 · Moon Farts: Being Charlie While Running Errands — announcement: John notes that the movie rights to The Fault in Our Stars were optioned by Fox 2000, and that the script is being written by the writers of (500) Days of Summer. — video description
  • 2012-07-31 · Nerd Olympics — announcement: John announces that Friday is Esther Day, honoring Esther, who inspired much of The Fault in Our Stars and Nerdfighteria, by telling people we love that we love them. — 00:02:03
  • 2012-10-16 · Burning Peeps, My OTP, and Velociraptors: It's Question Tuesday — recommendation: John: As the best book you've never heard of, John recommends Peter De Vries's The Blood of the Lamb, which inspired large parts of An Imperial Affliction by Peter Van Houten. — 00:01:31
  • 2012-11-20 · Great at Being Terrible: The Florence Foster Jenkins Story — announcement: John: To celebrate the first anniversary of The Fault in Our Stars, Penguin has rented Carnegie Hall for the brothers to have an evening of awesome of reading, talking and music. — 00:01:33
  • 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 67 statements more in 2012 — all statements of 2012

Also named in: Why The Rich Pay Lower Taxes

2013

Also named in: Thoughts from Carnegie Hall

2014

Also named in: John and Chris Meet in the Middle, Is the American Dream Real?

2015

  • 2015-01-23 · Interviewing the President — Hank: After the interview Hank says he did it, keeps a copy of The Fault in Our Stars, and has to talk to press instead of sleeping. (playful) — 00:02:56
    • John tells Hank he did such a good job, is proud of him, and asks whether that is the copy of The Fault in Our Stars the President touched. — 00:03:41
  • 2015-04-14 · A Long Good Day — John: Shailene Woodley won best actress for her role in The Fault in Our Stars; her kindness about John in her speech made him cry, and Nat teased him for it. — 00:02:23
    • The Fault in Our Stars won Best Movie, and John made the acceptance speech, as everyone had urged, so that he could thank Esther. — 00:02:38
  • 2015-05-12 · Becoming Someone Else — John is nostalgic for 2007-2009, when everyone who met him on the street was a nerdfighter, though that is terrible since good things followed: his children, his book's success and film. — 00:01:41
    • In a P.S., John says Penguin UK has a Fault in Our Stars-themed project raising money for the Teenage Cancer Trust and asks UK and Ireland viewers to check it out. — 00:03:31
  • 2015-07-21 · PAPER TOWNS IS HERE AND JOHN IS A BALL OF ANXIETY — announcement: John: Correcting himself, John says the movie is already out in Brazil, Australia and elsewhere, critics have seen it and reviews are great; Variety said it was better than The Fault in Our Stars. — 00:01:27
    • John says that on tour exactly zero interviewers said the title of The Fault in Our Stars correctly. (playful) — 00:01:36
  • 2015-07-28 · Paper Towns, Agloe, and Touring: Thoughts from (Many) Places — John: In Columbus John met Cara, who reluctantly beatboxed in a TV interview; John was told the anchors really liked his book, 'No Fault in These Stars'. (playful) — 00:02:21
  • 2015-12-01 · John's Book Giving Guide for the Holidays! — recommendation: John: For literary-fiction readers John recommends Hanya Yanagihara: her strange first novel is excellent, but A Little Life is better, and sadder than The Fault in Our Stars. — 00:01:20

Also named in: Question Tuesday with Cara Delevingne and Nat Wolff, Question Tuesday: My Social Media Hiatus, My Excellent German, and Books!

2016

  • 2016-01-19 · The Looking for Alaska Movie, Davos, and Hufflepuff Shade: It's Question Tuesday — John: Asked to six-degrees-of-Kevin-Bacon himself, John says he acted in The Fault in Our Stars movie (scene cut, but in the extended version) with Laura Dern, who was in Novocaine with Kevin Bacon. (playful) — 00:01:23
    • John admits this bums him out but reminds him how lucky he was with two great book-to-movie experiences; authors are almost never as welcomed into the process as he was with The Fault in Our Stars and Paper Towns. — 00:02:19
  • 2016-03-01 · Question Tuesday: The Potato Edition — John: Asked for a favourite One Direction song, Henry offers his favourite song, which John explains is the Swedish hip-hop song on The Fault in Our Stars soundtrack, in Henry's own name for it. — 00:03:09
  • 2016-06-10 · Hank Roasts Himself Diss Track - Roast Yourself Challenge — Hank raps that he keeps talking about a book he'll write someday, but it's never going to be The Fault in Our Stars, so why does he try anyway. (playful) — 00:00:46
  • 2016-08-30 · My Body Is a Broken Temple — John says in the almost five years since The Fault in Our Stars, Crash Course, The Art Assignment, Alice and some movies happened, but he has not published a new book. — 00:02:20
  • 2016-09-20 · Failing to Follow Up The Fault in Our Stars — John says it has been almost five years since The Fault in Our Stars; nothing new followed because a very public success coincided with a series of very private failures. — 00:00:08
    • John says The Fault in Our Stars, his fourth novel, sold more hardcovers in its first week than his three previous novels had ever sold combined. — 00:00:20
    • John says that meanwhile he was hard at work on a new book about teenage identity thieves, as he always wrote a new book after publishing one, but it wasn't working. — 00:00:37
    • John says The Fault in Our Stars kept selling, and in May 2012 he read an amazing screenplay adaptation and realized it might become a movie. — 00:01:14
    • John says he was elated and grateful that The Fault in Our Stars reached so many readers, but terrified that he could never follow it up. — 00:01:37
  • 2016-11-17 · Decathlons, Pretension, and the Weirdest Animal I've Met: It's Question Thursday — John: Asked which of his characters he would vote for as president, John picks Hazel's mom from The Fault in Our Stars: cool under pressure, thoughtful, cautious, played by Laura Dern. (hedged) — 00:01:16
  • 2016-11-29 · Baby Poop Rookie: Vlogbrothers Reunited — John says he doesn't know how a sequel to The Fault in Our Stars could have happened, but people in Hollywood did make suggestions. — 00:00:39
  • …and 3 statements more in 2016 — all statements of 2016

2017

  • 2017-04-14 · ★★★★ Review: The TFiOS Bench - Amsterdam — Hank finds the Fault in Our Stars bench on Google Maps with 75 reviews and an average rating of 4.3, as good as the Van Gogh Museum. — 00:00:54
  • 2017-06-13 · Cheyenne, Wyoming — John spent about a year in Cheyenne finishing The Fault in Our Stars, but also several months a few years ago only to realize the book he'd worked hard on wasn't good and wouldn't be published. — 00:01:36
  • 2017-06-22 · My New Book — John thanks people, especially his family, for their patience and kindness over five and a half years: he often worried he would never publish another book, and without their support wouldn't be. — 00:00:48
  • 2017-06-27 · UNBOXING — John: Signing all pre-orders means signing the whole first printing; for The Fault in Our Stars that was 150,000, charted on a 2011 poster Sarah made, and John signed almost all its pre-orders. — 00:00:46
  • 2017-07-11 · Signing 200,000 Autographs — John: Amazon might be onto something: for about a year after The Fault in Our Stars came out, unsigned copies were much rarer than signed ones. (playful, hedged) — 00:00:43
    • A selfish reason: for 2,000 days or so of writing this book John rarely knew if his work would make it in or bring him closer; signing, he knows people will like it and each one gets him closer to done. (hedged) — 00:01:14
  • 2017-08-15 · Very Hard to Desclibe — announcement: John reveals the cover of Turtles All the Way Down, designed by Rodrigo Corral, who did the cover of The Fault in Our Stars; he calls it beautiful. — 00:00:01
  • 2017-11-21 · Two Love Stories — John: On the January 2012 Fault in Our Stars tour, at a hotel ballroom outside Washington, DC, Nerdfighters Sara and Luis met before the show, hit it off and later began dating. — 00:00:11
  • 2017-12-05 · On the Movies — John says he almost didn't sell the film rights to The Fault in Our Stars, partly after bad experiences in Hollywood and partly because the book was very close to him. — 00:01:05
    • John says The Fault in Our Stars held parts of him people knew about, like his friendship with Esther Earl, and parts of traumatic experiences he had never told anyone. — 00:01:22
    • John says he sold the rights and got very lucky: Elizabeth and Erin at Fox 2000 were perfect stewards, with amazing producers, screenwriters and cast, and a movie he really loved. — 00:01:54
    • Isaac, producer of The Fault in Our Stars and Paper Towns, pointed out that obsessive thoughts are also non-linguistic, which didn't stop John writing the book. — 00:02:43
  • …and 5 statements more in 2017 — all statements of 2017

Also named in: Definitely Not A Pecan Orchard: A Pizzamas Question Tuesday

2018

  • 2018-03-02 · The Best (Recent) Book Covers Including MINE! — Hank: Admitting bias, Hank calls Rodrigo Corral's cover for The Fault in Our Stars one of the best of the decade: a departure that leveled up young adult literature. (hedged) — 00:02:24
    • Hank says the TFIOS cover feels almost branded and started, or was part of, a really important and necessary trend in cover design. (hedged) — 00:02:36
  • 2018-04-17 · John Green Answers Your John Green Questions — John lives in Indianapolis, where TFIOS and Turtles All the Way Down are set; earlier he lived in Chicago (part of An Abundance of Katherines), Birmingham, Alabama (Looking for Alaska) and Orlando, Florida (Paper Towns). — 00:00:35
  • 2018-08-14 · Question Tuesday: Secrets & Primes — John reveals an inside joke with himself: each of his books has a prime-minus-one number of chapters; TFIOS and Turtles All the Way Down have 24, Will Grayson, Will Grayson and An Abundance of Katherines 20. — 00:01:12
  • 2018-08-28 · The Book Was Better? — John: After John sold The Fault in Our Stars film rights to Fox 2000, they could have set the movie on Mars. (playful) — 00:00:40
    • Fans were very mad when Nat Wolff was cast as Isaac, who is blond in the book, and John was concerned too, but Wolff turned out to be the perfect Isaac. — 00:01:06
  • 2018-11-08 · Let's Talk Money: The Bank of Nerdfighteria's Semi-Annual Report — John's first reason: he and Hank don't need money, having well-paid jobs: his is having written a book seven years ago that became popular, Hank's is having 40 jobs. (playful) — 00:01:19

2019

  • 2019-03-19 · Writing and Marriage Advice from Michelle Obama — John tells Michelle Obama her writing on marriage resonated because his life changed very suddenly when The Fault in Our Stars was published, though not on a presidential level. — 00:00:29
  • 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
    • John was eventually convinced The Fault in Our Stars was better; as a play on a Shakespeare line it nearly quenched his thirst to call a book 'More Light Than Heat'. — 00:01:56
    • Rosianna, who is great at titles, pointed John to the Julius Caesar line about the fault in our stars and came up with the title Life's Library for the book club. — 00:02:26

Also named in: Why I Haven't Written a New Book

2020

  • 2020-02-28 · I'M FINE EVERYTHING IS FINE — Hank says he was watching John's 2011 video of signing The Fault in Our Stars very quickly, when John was a little frazzled, and admits he is a little frazzled too. — 00:00:50
  • 2020-09-01 · get the show on — announcement: John: As he did with The Fault in Our Stars, John says he will sign the entire first printing of the American and Canadian edition. — 00:01:27
  • 2020-10-20 · How to Sign Your Name 150,000 Times — John recalls that in 2011, signing the first printing of The Fault in Our Stars, he listened to Moby Dick. — 00:00:53
  • 2020-10-27 · The time I met Joe Biden — John: Biden told John his family loved The Fault in Our Stars and it helped them process his son's cancer diagnosis; he asked about Esther, with tears in his eyes as John talked. — 00:00:58
  • 2020-12-31 · Auld Lang Syne: The Anthropocene Reviewed — John: After finishing Textbook, Amy learned she had cancer and called John, who knew many gravely ill young people after The Fault in Our Stars, to ask how her kids and husband would cope. — 00:12:46 · also in: We're here because were here., John's Review of Auld Lang Syne
    • John told Amy what he thinks is true: love survives death. — 00:13:00
    • John should have said her family won't be okay but will go on, as will her love; instead, crying, he said 'How can this be happening? You do so much yoga.' — 00:13:45
    • Dying people collect stories of stupid things the healthy say, but John knows none as idiotic as his; he hopes Amy got narrative mileage from it, knows he failed her, and wishes he had said something useful or nothing. — 00:14:09 · also in: We're here because were here., John's Review of Auld Lang Syne

2021

  • 2021-02-23 · A Little Joy and Color in an Otherwise Unbearably Bland Life — John recalls signing 150,000 times for The Fault in Our Stars: at the end he signed 12 or 14 hours a day and doubted he could do it, until the purple Sharpie reminded him he had made this promise and would keep it. — 00:03:05
  • 2021-03-09 · Hank Rebranded Without Any of Us Noticing — John: 2007 John wasn't the author of The Fault in Our Stars, a resident of Indianapolis, an AFC Wimbledon supporter, Crash Course's co-founder, best friends with Chris and Marina, or a jogger. — 00:01:56
  • 2021-04-02 · John's World Record — Hank: All first-edition copies of The Fault in Our Stars were signed except a tiny number of misprints, which makes unsigned first editions extremely rare and more valuable. — 00:00:58
    • John went from 150,000 signatures for The Fault in Our Stars to 200,000 for Turtles All the Way Down and now 250,000 for The Anthropocene Reviewed, flooding the market. — 00:01:27
  • 2021-05-04 · What the Most-Viewed Vlogbrothers Videos Say about YouTube (and about us) — John: Views surged in 2013 and especially 2014 as the success of The Fault in Our Stars drew Nerdfighteria toward broader pop culture, and many people went back to watch the 2007-2012 videos. — 00:00:00
  • 2021-05-25 · The Anthropocene Reviewed, Animated — John: The video continues a tradition from 2008, when John read Paper Towns' first chapter; the brothers have since read first chapters of seven books; for this one John and Rosianna asked Meitar Almog to make art. — video description
    • Tempting as it is to make labyrinthitis a metaphor for a life lacking balance, John wrote against such symbolization of disease in his novels: OCD and cancer are illnesses to live with as well as one can, not battles or character flaws. — 00:05:41
    • The Amsterdam bench where a scene of The Fault in Our Stars film was shot now has hundreds of Google reviews; John's favorite, three stars, reads in full: it is a bench. — 00:09:40
  • 2021-12-07 · Reading Hank's Decade-Old Tweets — In a comment John says popular fan-made covers left people feeling betrayed by the slick real TFIOS cover; it was a huge mess that cost him sleep, but the cover became popular and influential. — creator comment
    • Hank's tweet about the TFIOS cover, with John's name as big as the title, dates from October 2011, just after he first saw it; the book came out in January 2012. — 00:01:53
    • John recalls a lot of negative response to the TFIOS cover, which Hank tried to spin positively; it turned out to be a good cover. — 00:01:53
  • 2021-12-14 · MAKE. BELIEVE. — John: Most of John's wandering thoughts are terrible: the first draft of The Fault in Our Stars had a girl and her favorite author team up to take down a drug lord, and he never thought it stupid. (playful) — 00:02:26
  • …and 2 statements more in 2021 — all statements of 2021

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
    • John still doesn't know how to make sense of being its author, except that he is extremely grateful it is still in print and still finding new readers. — 00:00:00
    • John dislikes the genre convention in which sick people get sick so healthy people can learn lessons, so he wanted to write a book with no healthy kids in it. — 00:02:55
    • Such explanations, John says, always put the fault in the self, never in the stars, echoing his book's title. — 00:02:55
    • John thanks readers for keeping Hazel and Gus around all these years; it means a lot to him. — 00:03:24
  • 2022-04-08 · Hank and John Discover Chippy Butties — John: Asked if he has read fan fiction of his books, John says yes: there is a lot of Isaac-related Fault in Our Stars fan fiction, and versions of the fan fiction Daisy writes in Turtles All the Way Down. — 00:00:29 · also in: John and Hank Hanging Out but they Keep Getting Younger and More Pixelated
  • 2022-06-21 · On Disease — John saw his hand doctor because his hand isn't working perfectly; the doctor recalled advising him to sign less, after which John signed 250,000 copies of The Anthropocene Reviewed. (playful) — 00:00:00
  • 2022-08-16 · cars vs. covid — John says his misspoken 'the smartest car in the squid' beats the most famous line he ever wrote, about falling in love slowly and then all at once, which he still likes. (playful) — 00:00:27
  • 2022-09-28 · How My Book Became a Hit with Elderly People — John has seen a huge, lovely surge of fan mail from older people who have never heard of him through TikTok or The Fault in Our Stars but like the book. — 00:02:53

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
    • John is happy that people still find The Fault in Our Stars and read it as a story rather than as part of a larger cultural phenomenon with Saturday Night Live skits; it is lovely it is still in print. — 00:00:40
  • 2023-03-28 · My Tuberculosis Reading List — John recently learned Shreya was a big fan of The Fault in Our Stars and reread it near the end of her life; he wishes he had met her and calls her one of his heroes. — 00:01:27
  • 2023-05-26 · My Cancer Press Tier List — Hank sends the Los Angeles Times to D tier for calling him John Green's brother in the headline, including the short search-result version. (playful) — 00:02:26
  • 2023-08-08 · TAKE IT UP A NOTCH — John likes the four-minute rule: it helped him become a better writer, and without it The Fault in Our Stars would have been about a hundred pages longer and not as good. — 00:02:55
  • 2023-09-27 · John Goes ... to the UNITED NATIONS? — John says Shreya was a fan of his book The Fault in Our Stars. — 00:02:05
  • 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 used to be open about his writing process, but after The Fault in Our Stars he felt he couldn't be, even on Vlogbrothers: people pressured him and guessed release seasons, with implications for a publicly traded corporation. — 00:02:44
  • 2023-12-24 · John and Hank Hanging Out but they Keep Getting Younger and More Pixelated — John says he has read the finished hardcover of The Fault in Our Stars zero times, preferring books he doesn't remember. — 01:37:57
    • After a Houston hotel sold their rooms on tour, the brothers got another hotel's best room, bigger than John's house, with a Picasso print and certificate of authenticity. — 01:56:36
    • Asked the point of doing things, John says there is no cosmic mandate to do stuff; he has struggled with that and wrote The Fault in Our Stars about it. — 02:05:12
    • Hank: As his punishment, Hank will draw anglerfish ('Hanklerfish') on 7,400 TFIOS signature sheets, 5% of the total; all pre-ordered copies are signed. — 02:08:36
  • …and 1 statement more in 2023 — all statements of 2023

2024

  • 2024-02-06 · The Truth of How Books Become Movies — John says that had The Fault in Our Stars not become a movie he thinks he would have been paid $60,000: a lot of money, but not Hollywood fantasy money. (hedged) — 00:01:27
    • John says The Fault in Our Stars movie sold a ton of books. — 00:03:24
  • 2024-08-27 · How The Internet Is Rigged — John: In 2011 John built a large audience on Tumblr, which, as Tumblr grew, sold many copies of The Fault in Our Stars. — 00:03:06
    • In 2007 John wouldn't even hold up Looking for Alaska on camera; by 2012 he reblogged every piece of Fault in Our Stars fan art with a link to buy the book. — 00:03:24
  • 2024-10-22 · My New Book: Everything Is Tuberculosis — announcement: John says the book is not a young adult novel like The Fault in Our Stars or Turtles All the Way Down; it is not the opposite of his previous work, but it is different. — 00:00:10
  • 2024-11-13 · Some New Things… — John recalls the 2012 Fault in Our Stars tour: 32 consecutive nights at Holiday Inn Expresses, including a very nice one on a river outside Bend, Oregon; Hank doubts it was near Bend. — 00:53:22
  • 2024-12-10 · On Writing — John says the book is very different from Looking for Alaska or The Fault in Our Stars: nobody falls in love, and it is nonfiction rather than fiction. — 00:00:31
    • John tells his younger self his books will not last forever, since forever is an incorrect concept, and calls that great news: someday The Fault in Our Stars will be read for the last time and humanity will go on. — 00:01:18
    • Rereading, John sees the book continues 20 years of his work, extending his fascination with illness: cancer in The Fault in Our Stars, OCD in Turtles All the Way Down, plagues in The Anthropocene Reviewed. — 00:02:39
  • 2024-12-31 · I Just Can't Do It Anymore — John: After the pain worsened John saw a doctor and it got worse still; without giving medical details, he says he can no longer sign and is not allowed to. — 00:01:12
    • John says signing has been a significant part of his life for 12 years, ever since he signed the first printing of The Fault in Our Stars. — 00:01:30

2025

  • 2025-04-15 · Chatting with ... a U.S. Senator? — announcement: John says that in D.C. he met and talked with Senator Adam Schiff about democracy, foreign aid and the title of The Fault in Our Stars, and shares the conversation. — 00:00:34
    • Adam Schiff: Schiff asks about The Fault in Our Stars' title, suggesting it was chosen partly because a person who gets sick is not at fault. (hedged) — 00:19:08
    • 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
  • 2025-07-01 · What #1 New York Times Bestseller Actually Means — John says his widely reviewed, award-winning first novel Looking for Alaska never came close to the list until the success of The Fault in Our Stars years later. — 00:01:56
  • 2025-09-16 · After seven long years… — John says the channel had about 9,000 subscribers after its first year and about 640,000 when Crash Course launched in early 2012 with The Fault in Our Stars, and only reached a million in March 2013. — 00:01:27
    • John says growth then sped up: the two millionth subscriber came in mid-2014 as The Fault in Our Stars movie took off, the three millionth in May 2017. — 00:01:56
  • 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
    • John does not think The Fault in Our Stars was the best book of 2012, citing Mary Oliver's A Thousand Mornings and Katherine Boo's Behind the Beautiful Forevers; it won a lottery of timing and chance. — 00:03:45
  • 2025-10-21 · Is Book Publishing Dying? An Author's Perspective — John says his book The Fault in Our Stars costs around $8 for 8 to 10 hours of entertainment, less than a dollar per hour, which he thinks is a good deal. — 00:03:23
  • 2025-12-16 · John Green's Brother — John says the Financial Times wrote a lovely article about the brothers and their work, but its sub-headline credited the Fault in Our Stars author and his brother. (playful) — 00:00:00
    • John says in real life he is Hank Green's brother: at an art show last week (week of 8 December 2025) someone recognised Sarah from The Art Assignment and asked if she was married to the brother. (playful) — 00:00:29
  • …and 3 statements more in 2025 — all statements of 2025

2026

  • 2026-02-13 · Project for Awesome 2026 Kickoff! — announcement: John launches a signed mystery book perk: a signed copy of one of his books, such as Turtles All the Way Down, Looking for Alaska, The Fault in Our Stars, The Anthropocene Reviewed or Everything Is Tuberculosis. — 08:08:39
  • 2026-02-15 · Project for Awesome 2026 part 5! — Hank says he is mostly famous as an internet person, while people who do not know him know John because of The Fault in Our Stars; John calls it weirdly one of the best-selling books of all time. — 03:32:36
  • 2026-02-24 · Risk Is a Privilege — John says his safety net lets him risk writing a novel that might not work out; since The Fault in Our Stars he can do pretty much whatever he wants with his time. — 00:02:26
  • 2026-03-17 · Tuberculosis and Hank's Shingles — John says attempts to give pain a meaning can be really harmful to people living in pain, one of the themes of The Fault in Our Stars. — 00:00:29
  • 2026-05-26 · Hank Green Is a Fool — In a channel comment John says The Fault in Our Stars has sold over 30,000,000 copies. — creator comment
  • 2026-07-07 · On the Death of the Author — John recalls writing in the preface of The Fault in Our Stars that neither novels nor readers benefit from divining whether facts hide in a story; readers kept divining, mostly his own fault. — 00:00:00
  • 2026-07-10 · How Status Destroys Us — Hank says only John's remark made him realize how early, and so how defining, John was to authors' relationship with the internet; John being extremely online was part of TFIOS becoming a phenomenon. — 00:00:29
    • Hank says the phenomenon of TFIOS drove John, and to a lesser extent Hank, to retreat to higher-barrier corners of the internet like Vlogbrothers, with its decades-long history of tiny chickens, Projects for Awesome and bean Furbies and videos not expected to draw many viewers. — 00:00:58
    • Hank says The Fault in Our Stars is a book without a villain unless you count cancer, which neither he nor the book's characters really do. — 00:01:21
    • Rereading Hollywood, Ending made Hank think about how TFIOS itself also had elements of being about this. — 00:01:21
  • 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
    • Instead those early readers chose not to share the book, many waited until release day (2012) to read it, and it stayed unspoiled: one of the most generous acts of collective reading John has seen. — 00:03:43
  • …and 14 statements more in 2026 — all statements of 2026