Hollywood, Ending: announcement and publication of John's novel (2026)
project history · status: completed · last event: outcome (2026-09-22) · last mentioned: 2026-10-02
Hollywood, Ending, John's first novel in nine years, grew from a story he read on livestreams early in the pandemic. Announced in March 2026, with its cover shown in June, it came out on September 22, 2026.
Parts: John asks viewers in the US and Canada to pre-order signed copies of Hollywood, Ending (2026) · John: people will find a reason to ban Hollywood, Ending (2026) · John: sign 82,000 sheets to be bound into pre-ordered copies of Hollywood, Ending (2026) · John: sign most of the 82,000 Hollywood, Ending sheets on livestream on John's Channel (2026) · John: answer viewers' non-spoiler questions about Hollywood, Ending in the comments (2026) · Hollywood, Ending book tour (2026)
About: Hollywood, Ending, COVID-19 pandemic
| date | event | what | video |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2026-03-31 | announced | John announces he has written a new book, Hollywood, Ending, out September 22, with signed copies available for pre-order now. | I've Been Keeping a Secret… 00:00:00 |
| 2026-03-31 | looked back | When the pandemic first emerged John read a story on a series of semi-secret livestreams; that story became this novel. | I've Been Keeping a Secret… 00:00:29 |
| 2026-06-02 | looked back | These ideas were in John's mind writing the film at the heart of Hollywood, Ending, Andy Warhol Never Gets Old, about Warhol's last year (2025) in the 1980s, struggling to stay relevant in the world he presaged. | The Instagramification of Human Experience 00:04:22 |
| 2026-06-05 | looked back | John says he writes in his new book, out this fall, about what he has noticed in interviewers' questions. | The Things We Don't Discuss 00:09:14 |
| 2026-06-16 | milestone | John says he began a novel about fame, trauma and loving our way through them about eight years ago, and today finally gets to show its cover. | My First Novel in Nine Years Has a Cover 00:00:00 |
| 2026-07-07 | looked back | While writing Hollywood, Ending, John thought a lot about art, why we make it and what it means to commodify it. | On the Death of the Author 00:06:20 |
| 2026-08-11 | milestone | John shows the final copy of Hollywood, Ending and reads its first chapter ahead of its September 22 release. | Hollywood, Ending 00:00:00 |
| 2026-09-15 | looked back | John says that over the last eight years he really tried to bring his deepest self to Hollywood, Ending, and is grateful to readers about to do the same. | YouTube Says This Video Has 683,183 Views, It Actually Has 312,584 00:04:52 |
| 2026-09-22 | outcome | John says Hollywood, Ending is officially out as of today. | I Want You to Know Nothing About This 00:00:03 |
| 2026-10-02 | looked back | In Hollywood, Ending John tried to argue that art is essential to human experience and a site of joint enchantment where our attention intertwines and deepens our connection. | the most powerful attention-consuming tools in the history of the world 00:01:57 |
What is said about it
42 statements, by date (the events above are the turns of the thread; these are the details).
- 2026-03-31 · I've Been Keeping a Secret… — announcement: John: The book has no cover yet and John has not finished the copy edits. — 00:00:00
- 2026-03-31 · I've Been Keeping a Secret… — John: It is John's first novel in nine years: almost nine years have passed since Turtles All the Way Down came out. — 00:00:00
- 2026-03-31 · I've Been Keeping a Secret… — John did not write it mainly in the last year: he has been working on Hollywood, Ending (with a comma in the title) since finishing Turtles All the Way Down. — 00:00:29
- 2026-03-31 · I've Been Keeping a Secret… — John: Many times over the years John thought he could never publish the book, partly for personal reasons; now it is ready and he is very excited to share it. — 00:00:58
- 2026-03-31 · I've Been Keeping a Secret… — announcement: John: The novel is about Kai and Juniper, two people in their early twenties who were in a movie together about the last year of Andy Warhol's life, called Andy Warhol Never Gets Old. — 00:00:58
- 2026-03-31 · I've Been Keeping a Secret… — announcement: John: Kai and Juniper navigate fame, work, early adulthood and their complex feelings for each other while their movie blows up, and so do their lives, intoxicatingly and painfully. — 00:01:27
- 2026-03-31 · I've Been Keeping a Secret… — announcement: John: The book is also about love and how we find it, and about celebrity and the fame machine, all of which John has seen up close over the last decade. — 00:01:56
- 2026-03-31 · I've Been Keeping a Secret… — announcement: John: It is John's first novel for adults and, on several levels, more adult than his previous novels: the characters are older and the themes are for adults. — 00:01:56
- 2026-03-31 · I've Been Keeping a Secret… — John has been trying to write this novel since 2017, with significant progress at points, but only in the last couple of years saw the path forward clearly. — 00:02:55
- 2026-03-31 · I've Been Keeping a Secret… — ask: John asks viewers to pre-order the signed edition at hollywoodendingbook.com soon; signed copies are available in the US and Canada. — 00:03:24
- 2026-04-03 · I Had a Hallucination This Week — ask: The description tells viewers that John's Hollywood, Ending is available for pre-order now. — video description
- 2026-06-02 · The Instagramification of Human Experience — announcement: John wants readers to know as little as possible before his novel Hollywood, Ending (out September 22), but wants Hank to know something about Andy Warhol. — 00:00:00
- 2026-06-02 · The Instagramification of Human Experience — ask: The description asks viewers to pre-order Hollywood, Ending at hollywoodendingbook.com. — video description
- 2026-06-02 · The Instagramification of Human Experience — John: From health updates to gender reveals we render 3D experiences into 2D posts; John asks what that does for us and to us, questions Hollywood, Ending tries to answer. (unsure) — 00:05:21
- 2026-06-05 · The Things We Don't Discuss — announcement: John names his new novel, Hollywood, Ending, out September 22, 2026. — 00:10:32
- 2026-06-16 · My First Novel in Nine Years Has a Cover — announcement: John: The book has two narrators, Kai and Juniper, twenty-something co-stars of a film about Andy Warhol's last year (2025), Andy Warhol Never Gets Old; as it blows up, so do their lives, thrillingly and painfully. — 00:00:00
- 2026-06-16 · My First Novel in Nine Years Has a Cover — John spent the last eight years, off and on, finding his way through the novel; he finally has and is very excited. — 00:00:58
- 2026-06-16 · My First Novel in Nine Years Has a Cover — John: Writing Hollywood, Ending taught John about acting, Warhol, how to love and why, and reminded him what happens when children's trust and love are misused by their caretakers. — 00:00:58
- 2026-06-16 · My First Novel in Nine Years Has a Cover — John says he has been lucky with covers (The Fault in Our Stars' became somewhat iconic, his nonfiction covers extraordinary) but never luckier than with Hollywood, Ending. — 00:01:56
- 2026-06-16 · My First Novel in Nine Years Has a Cover — John finds the cover awesome even in ways that only make sense after reading: literally and figuratively, it contains the book. — 00:03:20
- 2026-06-19 · You Have to Poop in the Eiffel Tower — ask: The description asks viewers to pre-order a signed copy of Hollywood, Ending at hollywoodendingbook.com. — video description
- 2026-06-19 · You Have to Poop in the Eiffel Tower — Hank congratulates John on his new book and its beautiful new cover. — 00:03:37
- 2026-07-07 · On the Death of the Author — announcement: John is preparing to publish his new book Hollywood, Ending this September and has been thinking about the place of an author in a novel. — 00:00:00
- 2026-07-07 · On the Death of the Author — John says that, like all books ever written, Hollywood, Ending is coded autobiography: about movies, press junkets, trauma and sudden fame, which he has known. — 00:05:22
- 2026-07-07 · On the Death of the Author — John says Hollywood, Ending is still a made-up novel; he hopes it is about the reader's experiences and what they survived, not his. (hedged) — 00:05:51
- 2026-07-10 · How Status Destroys Us — Hank has been rereading John's new book Hollywood, Ending, which he can do even though no one else has access to it yet. — 00:00:00
- 2026-07-10 · How Status Destroys Us — Hank admits it embarrassingly took him this long to understand the comma in the book's title, and calls it a good comma. (playful) — 00:00:00
- 2026-07-10 · How Status Destroys Us — Hank says that in Hollywood, Ending John has been subtle with villainy, doing it again in a very interesting way; even saying that may be too much. — 00:03:04
- 2026-07-10 · How Status Destroys Us — Hank says he is a fan, John is good at that job, and he is so glad John wrote another novel; he didn't know if it would ever happen again. — 00:03:33
- 2026-07-10 · How Status Destroys Us — ask: Hank notes he forgot to say it before editing: viewers can preorder the book right now, and he doesn't think they will regret it. — 00:05:15
- 2026-08-03 · Esther Day 2026: Some Thoughts on Loss — ask: The description asks viewers to pre-order John's new novel Hollywood, Ending, out September 22, at hollywoodendingbook.com. — video description
- 2026-08-07 · Just Trying to Figure Out My Job — Hank thanks John for not complaining that this distracts from the imminent release of the novel he worked on for a decade, though he is sure John feels it. (playful) — 00:01:24
- 2026-09-08 · The Life Expectancy Lies That Won't Die — ask: In a channel comment John says he is touring for Hollywood, Ending, out September 22, and invites viewers to get tour tickets or order a signed copy at hollywoodendingbook.com. — creator comment
- 2026-09-15 · YouTube Says This Video Has 683,183 Views, It Actually Has 312,584 — announcement: John says that in one week Hollywood, Ending, his first novel in nine years, will be out and he will be touring the country. — 00:00:00
- 2026-09-15 · YouTube Says This Video Has 683,183 Views, It Actually Has 312,584 — John says the book's reviews so far have been exceptionally generous, which has slightly dulled his constant gnawing anxiety. — 00:00:00
- 2026-09-15 · YouTube Says This Video Has 683,183 Views, It Actually Has 312,584 — announcement: John says he loves art enjoyed in community, and a nerdfighter named Kimmy has created a Discord server so readers of Hollywood, Ending can read it together on September 22. — 00:04:52
- 2026-09-25 · Who Has Signed Their Name the Most Times? — Hank shows his copy, blue and cream with green inside; his favorite surprise about Hollywood, Ending is that the book's insides come in different colorways. — 00:00:29
- 2026-09-25 · Who Has Signed Their Name the Most Times? — recommendation: Hank reads non-spoilery sentences people have written about Hollywood, Ending, calling it spellbinding, tender and funny, thornier and subtler than John's earlier work. — 00:02:26
- 2026-09-25 · Who Has Signed Their Name the Most Times? — announcement: Hank: Hollywood, Ending is out wherever books are sold and John is on tour, with tickets possibly still available; Hank's bookstore had only one colorway. (hedged) — 00:02:55
- 2026-10-01 · Are We Still YouTubers? — Hank says his artwork is not video but the channel, the brotherhood, the whole thing: from people unsure which brother is which to people making Hollywood, Ending cakes, fonts and hospitals in Sierra Leone. — 00:06:57
- 2026-10-02 · the most powerful attention-consuming tools in the history of the world — John says consuming content is a central theme of Hollywood, Ending: it really means engaging with art, but within capitalism we view that engagement as consumption and art as content. — 00:00:01
- 2026-10-02 · the most powerful attention-consuming tools in the history of the world — John gives examples: reading Hollywood, Ending, his publisher and he capture your attention's value; this video he splits with Google; on Instagram Meta captures almost all of it. — 00:01:27