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John's World Record

2021-04-02 · letter vlog · Hank · 3:51 · watch on YouTube

Topic: Books & writing · mode: Personal essay · tags: self promotion

Hank says John has probably signed his name more than anyone on Earth, jokes that flooding the market gives him the least valuable signature of any author, then argues that the signing's real value is a tangible, non-machine symbol of an author's appreciation of readers, reflecting John's habit of imagining new ways of doing things.

What is said

The parts of the video and what is said in each (★ — how much it matters to the video).

00:00:00 — John has likely signed his name more than anyone; why signed books are valuable: Harper Lee, Salinger, Shakespeare

  • ★★★ Though no Guinness representative can confirm it, Hank is fairly certain John has signed his name more than anyone else on Earth, maybe more than anyone who ever existed. (hedged) — 00:00:00 · John Green
  • ★★ Hank says this is less a profound feat than a reason to ask why anyone would do that. — 00:00:00
  • ★★ Hank says John is now upwards of 600,000 signatures. — 00:00:00 · John Green
  • ★★ Harper Lee signed few copies of To Kill a Mockingbird, so a signed one sells for upwards of $20,000. — 00:00:29
  • ★★ J. D. Salinger signed very few things, so an envelope bearing his signature is for sale for $1,400. — 00:00:29
  • ★ Shakespeare's signatures all look different and bad, but Hank is sure some rich person would pay millions for one at auction. (playful) — 00:00:29

00:00:58 — John's signature as the least valuable of any author: unsigned TFIOS first editions are the rare ones; flooding the market

  • ★★ Hank jokes that, unlike authors whose signatures are worth a fortune, John has the least valuable signature of any author in the world. (playful) — 00:00:58 · John Green
  • ★★★ 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 · The Fault in Our Stars
  • ★★ 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 · The Fault in Our Stars, Turtles All the Way Down, The Anthropocene Reviewed (book)
  • ★ Some rare signed copies are worth more: misprints bound with two signature pages, and ones with Yetis, spirals, Pokémon balls and Hanklerfish. — 00:01:27 · Hanklerfish

00:02:02 — Value beyond the collector's market: signing as tangible appreciation of readers; John imagining different ways of doing things

  • ★ Whoever gets the last page, John's handwritten review of signing 250,000 times, will have a nice day; it is probably worth more than the rest. (hedged) — 00:02:02
  • ★★★ Collector's value, from the strange instinct to collect rare things, is completely separate from the value John creates with his ritualized signing. — 00:02:02

  • ★★★ Hank sees the signing as a tangible symbol of appreciation for the reader: authors deeply appreciate readers but lack good ways to show it. — 00:02:31

    “a kind of tangible symbol of appreciation for the reader”

  • ★★ The signing is not about monetary value but about recognizing that readers are people, more than numbers. — 00:02:31

  • ★★ A book's words are the author's but machine-printed, a disconnect; putting in one thing not made by a machine makes the book live differently. — 00:02:31
  • ★★ Signing an entire print run was not a thing before John decided it could be; it was hard, but John and the people at Penguin made it happen. — 00:03:00 · John Green, Penguin Books

00:03:29 — Congratulations; The Anthropocene Reviewed out May 18 with signed pre-orders; sign-off

In the description and comments

  • ★ The description allows that someone may have written their name more times, but says it seems unlikely. (hedged) — video description

Humor (significant)

  • Explaining why signatures of rare authors are valuable, Hank reaches Shakespeare. — 00:00:29

    “Shakespeare lived before signing books was a thing, and also all his stuff is like super old now,”

  • After listing authors whose signatures are worth thousands, Hank gives John his distinction. — 00:00:58

    “You have the least valuable signature of any author in the world.”

  • Since only the unsigned TFIOS first editions are rare, John's signature on one makes it... — 00:01:27

    “Less valuable. It has negative value.”

Threads in this video

Where the stories that moved here went next

Mentioned

People: Harper Lee · J. D. Salinger · William Shakespeare

Works: Hanklerfish · Pokémon · The Anthropocene Reviewed (book) · The Fault in Our Stars · To Kill a Mockingbird · Turtles All the Way Down

Organizations: Guinness World Records

Only in the description or credits: Penguin Books

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