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The Book of Good Times Kickstarter (2024)

project history · status: completed · last event: milestone (2025-10-10)

Hank ran a Kickstarter for The Book of Good Times, which he and John wrote together from 2020. He launched it in September 2024, and it quickly passed its goal. Over 14,000 people got a book, everything shipped on time, and a second printing came out in 2025.

Parts: Hank asks Book of Good Times backers to fill out the Kickstarter address survey before shipping starts (2024)

Told alongside: Hank's Hodgkin lymphoma diagnosis and chemotherapy (2023)

About: The Book of Good Times

date event what video
2024-09-26 launched Hank announces a Kickstarter to see how many copies of the book they can make. Something Very Strange Has Been Happening to Me 00:02:50
2024-09-27 milestone John congratulates Hank on blowing past the initial goal for the Book of Good Times and says he is proud of Hank's innovative work. Is It 2010? IT'S A PARTS VIDEO 00:05:05
2024-09-30 launched Hank launches the Kickstarter on camera: it is live, and he thinks it is going well. Put a little bit of cinnamon in it 00:00:28
2024-09-30 milestone Hank says the Book of Good Times is linked in the description and believes all hardcovers guaranteed by Christmas have sold out, while the rest remain available. (hedged) Put a little bit of cinnamon in it 00:03:59
2024-10-02 milestone Because many people wanted multiple copies, Hank made it possible on the Kickstarter to get five paperbacks, five hardcovers, or a bundle with one of each. What I learned from the weirdest day of my life 00:04:52
2024-10-11 outcome The description thanks everyone who backed the Book of Good Times Kickstarter: over 14,000 people got a book. October 11, 2024 - Goofing off with John (a Vlogbrothers Video) video description
2024-11-08 milestone Hank says about 20% of Book of Good Times backers have not yet sent their addresses, and shipping starts next week (week of 11 November 2024). These Maps are Lying (if you let them) 00:01:50
2025-05-09 looked back Hank first emailed John the idea in 2020; John liked it, they wrote it together, and the book was done by 2021. OK, I MESSED UP. 00:00:58
2025-05-09 outcome The Kickstarter did amazingly and everything shipped perfectly on time, which Hank has never done with a Kickstarter before. OK, I MESSED UP. 00:02:01
2025-05-09 milestone The typo is restored in the second printing, available now; the book had so far only been available during the Kickstarter. OK, I MESSED UP. 00:02:29
2025-10-10 milestone Hank says they wrote a mystical prompt journal together whose explicit goal is to get people out of the phone and into their own minds and communities; many have sent nice notes, and it is available via the description. Maybe This is My Problem 00:03:29

What is said about it

28 statements, by date (the events above are the turns of the thread; these are the details).

  • 2024-09-26 · Something Very Strange Has Been Happening to Me — Hank tells, as a strange tale, how a book he found in a trash can seemed to know him, gave him instructions and wanted to become human with his help. (fiction) — 00:01:10
  • 2024-09-26 · Something Very Strange Has Been Happening to Me — Hank says that spending time with the book made him a bit more human: its sincere appreciation for humans made him appreciate being human. (playful) — 00:02:05
  • 2024-09-26 · Something Very Strange Has Been Happening to Me — Hank says the book wanted to reach more people, so he made a copy for John and then a dozen or so for friends. (playful) — 00:02:40
  • 2024-09-26 · Something Very Strange Has Been Happening to Me — announcement: Hank says there are two versions; the first costs $14 so it can reach as many hands as possible. — 00:02:58
  • 2024-09-26 · Something Very Strange Has Been Happening to Me — announcement: Hank says a nicer hardcover with nice paper costs $27, and two extra dollars guarantee shipping by Christmas. — 00:03:06
  • 2024-09-26 · Something Very Strange Has Been Happening to Me — Hank says that although the book seems to think he is doing it favors, he thinks it is doing favors for him. — 00:03:36
  • 2024-09-30 · Put a little bit of cinnamon in it — announcement: Hank: Before leaving the room Hank will launch the Book of Good Times Kickstarter; he is very nervous, having never done anything like it. — 00:00:13
  • 2024-09-30 · Put a little bit of cinnamon in it — Hank: Asked who wrote the book, Hank keeps up the fiction that the book wrote itself and also its Kickstarter page. (playful) — 00:00:28
  • 2024-09-30 · Put a little bit of cinnamon in it — Hank discovers the Kickstarter's shipping settings are wrong and fixes them from the venue bathroom on his phone's Wi-Fi, hoping no one notices. — 00:01:20
  • 2024-09-30 · Put a little bit of cinnamon in it — Hank is fairly sure he fixed the Kickstarter shipping problem. (hedged) — 00:02:30
  • 2024-09-30 · Put a little bit of cinnamon in it — Hank says he has no idea what they will do for backers who got the book with the wrong shipping. (unsure) — 00:02:30
  • 2024-10-02 · What I learned from the weirdest day of my life — Hank: That is one reason Hank got excited about the Book of Good Times: a simple, low-barrier way to engage more with yourself, a tool doing the opposite of what tries to keep him from himself. — 00:04:22
  • 2024-11-08 · These Maps are Lying (if you let them) — ask: Hank asks backers to find the Kickstarter email survey in their inbox and fill it out now, to make life easier for the warehouse team. — 00:02:06
  • 2025-05-09 · OK, I MESSED UP. — announcement: The description offers the first book co-authored by Hank and John (and by a book) in soft or hard cover from the DFTBA store. (playful) — video description
  • 2025-05-09 · OK, I MESSED UP. — Hank: Breaking the illusion for the first time, Hank says he did not actually find a book that was trying to become a person. — 00:00:29
  • 2025-05-09 · OK, I MESSED UP. — Hank wanted a tool that blurs the edge of reality constructively rather than destructively, since so much reality is being blurred destructively now. — 00:00:43
  • 2025-05-09 · OK, I MESSED UP. — Hank: Amid much else, publication kept getting pushed back, frustrating Hank, who felt the book was more necessary every day. — 00:00:58
  • 2025-05-09 · OK, I MESSED UP. — Hank: Everyone came together fast: an illustrated map, a friend's layout, websites, email addresses and a phone number for one prompt; Hank made it quite complicated. — 00:01:31
  • 2025-05-09 · OK, I MESSED UP. — Hank: A typo the book references and needs was automatically fixed by the printer, so it was missing from the first edition. — 00:02:29
  • 2025-05-09 · OK, I MESSED UP. — Hank: They learned of it only after printing the second edition, which now has the wrong number in sealed, packaged copies Hank won't unpack. — 00:03:27
  • 2025-05-09 · OK, I MESSED UP. — announcement: Hank: The fix is a sticker on the packaging giving the actual phone number to call. — 00:03:56
  • 2025-05-09 · OK, I MESSED UP. — ask: Hank invites those who called to call again if they want, at the number on the website, but only as part of going through the book. — 00:03:56
  • 2025-05-09 · OK, I MESSED UP. — Hank: Though he co-wrote and proofread it, going through the book Hank still felt immersed, which is why it felt special and worth releasing. — 00:04:37
  • 2025-05-09 · OK, I MESSED UP. — ask: Hank asks people not to call the number in the book but the number on the website. — 00:05:07
  • 2025-05-09 · OK, I MESSED UP. — Hank is very proud of the project; responses from the moments where the book reaches into the social internet or email come in regularly and feel really special. — 00:05:07
  • 2025-05-09 · OK, I MESSED UP. — ask: Hank thanks buyers and says copies are available now via the link in the description. — 00:05:36
  • 2025-05-09 · OK, I MESSED UP. — Hank: Since the immersion still worked on him as co-writer and proofreader, Hank thinks it will still work despite the error in the second edition. (hedged) — 00:05:36
  • 2025-05-09 · OK, I MESSED UP. — Hank thanks John for helping write their first co-authored project and hopes they do another. — 00:05:36