You can now order online!
I updated the Order page at
http://flexbook3.googlepages.com/home

You'll also see the finalized cover design for the FLEX Book on that page (the regular edition - the Hell edition is still under wraps).

The first batch of the book is now almost sold out.

After some 18-hour shifts and lots of PC problems (Acrobat can be a real pain...) I finally had all PDFs together, so last night at 6am I was able to upload everything to the printer.

I didn't expect it to be some much work again, after all, I had the contents ready weeks ago, but the covers, ads, introduction pages etc. and then putting everything together proved to be a real challenge.
I have certainly learned a lot about the pre-print process, not to mention the various Adobe products (Photoshop, InDesign, Acrobat)... this company seems to have the philosophy of enabling the weirdest and most far-fetched options in their products - and then in turn leaving out the most obvious and simple options (macro recorder in InDesign, "flatten page" in Acrobat etc.).

To answer three questions I repeatedly received:

(1) "Will I get my book in time for Christmas?"
Preordered/prepaid copies should be shipping around Nov 25-30, so Germany and Europe (air, and probably surface, too) should be no problem.
Airmail orders to US, Japan and the rest of the world should work, too. If you ordered your book by world surface mail, you MIGHT be lucky (the fastest I have seen was 2.5 weeks to US by surface mail), but don't hold your breath.

(2) "I have just ordered, will I get a copy of the limited version?"
All pre-ordered, pre-paid copies I have received by now will get the limited version.
I have a few copies of the limited version left, so if you order in the next few days you should be fine.

(3) "I have sent an email and asked for ordering information but didn't get a reply yet"
Didn't have the time to answer yet, you will get payment instructions etc. today or tomorrow.

Anyway, I can now finally start to answer all the emails I received in the past few days, clean up my place and (gasp!) maybe watch some TV tonight.

Last night I sent an email to all the people on my preorder list.
If you preordered but didn't get it please get in touch with me.

Sorry again for the people who received multiple emails...
I first sent it via my Gmail account, but because it went out to so many people I was marked as a spammer - most mails were not delivered and my account was promptly shut down.
So I had to re-send it to all because I didn't know who received it and who didn't.

Anyhoo... thanks for the many orders I already received.
I'm swamped with emails and other work, so forgive me if I'm even slower in answering email than usual.

The biggest (good) news first: The FLEX Book will go to press this Sunday.

I have finally decided on a print shop, after a long, agonizing search.
I should receive the finished books by the end of November.

The bad news is, this printer does not offer hardcover binding yet.
So it will be a softcover once again, but at least there should be huge improvements in binding quality over the previous books.
I discussed this problem with them at length, and they convinced me that they had a much better and more reliable way of binding and would take extra care to keep this book from falling apart. They sent me some samples and despite attempts to bend open the book really wide the pages didn’t come out unless I really ripped them out. So that should be a lot better.

The huge advantage of a softcover edition of course is the lower price, both in printing and in shipping. It’s obviously not 1999 anymore, so Volume 3 of the book will be more expensive than the previous one, but it’s at least in the same price range, and not double or triple of that price (I had a lot of offers in that price range, too, and a hardcover edition would have been even more expensive.).

I will send out an email tomorrow to all the people who pre-ordered, with price, postage and payment info.
If you haven’t received this mail by Friday please order again, your order possibly was lost in my PC crash earlier this year.

I will also update the Book web site at
http://flexbook3.googlepages.com/
soon so you can just order online.

Oh, and the last good news for today: The printer is able to print the first batch of copies with an alternate sleeve, so there will be a limited and numbered edition again for the first prepaid orders. This time it’s called the „Hell“ edition, by the way.

The samples arrived today from the first print shop. I noticed two things immediately:
One, the text looks much sharper now than in the second book, even the small fonts look very good.
Second, the pictures have a much higher resolution. I would say the raster is about twice as fine as for the previous book.

Apparently digital printing has made huge advances in the past few years.

Looks very promising, in any case, and I hope the other samples will be similarly good-looking.

Actually I am hoping to use another printing place that I just found; they promised to send out samples on Monday so I would have them Wednesday. They are cheaper and seemed to be bigger, faster and more professional than the other one.

Well, like always, I will keep you posted.

Sorry, no big news this time... just a quick update on what's happening.

I have three basic printing options, all have their advantages and disadvantages, so it's a tough choice.

I am still waiting for the sample copies to arrive, I really can't make a decision before I see them. Everything should be in place by mid-next week, though.

I am aware that I'm running out of time, because I want to make sure that you will have your books in time before Christmas... so I won't waste any more time than absolutely necessary, I promise.

Well, I'll keep you posted.

I hacked up a simple website for the Book, some info & order links...
Go here:
http://flexbook3.googlepages.com

(no, you don't have to re-order the book via that site if you already sent an email)

The new FLEX book is completed.

All the reviews are written.
All the layouting work is done.

I expected a little fanfare when I did the final PDF conversion, but Distiller just quietly put the file on my D: drive and that was it.

So all the content is in place now.
I have a preliminary cover design, but I will have to change it a bit, but for your enjoyment I am adding the picture. Just keep in mind that this won't be the final version.

I still have two printing options open and have to decide for one now. I have ordered a proof copy that I will get in about 2 weeks, then I will make my final decision.

Then I will also be able to talk about prices.
Printing costs have increased, the book is bigger, and it is also a hardcover now, but still I hope it won't be a lot more than the previous one.

In any case... you will be able to order the book very soon.
In case you're not on the list yet, here's the preorder email address again:

Preorder address is:
preorder1@flexpunk.com

OK... I finished the last review a few days ago.
So, the content is fixed now, and all that's missing is some layout work.
Right? Wrong.

I have completed the first 100 pages of the finalized layout but found that it takes MUCH longer than I had hoped.

Word is clearly not designed to handle a 1 Gigabyte document with thousands of embedded images, and even though I broke down the document into several parts it's still very slow and crashes frequently (on a new dual-core PC!).
Add that to the fact that Word increasingly behaves irrationally (moves around pictures by itself, refuses to move pictures in other cases) and you'll get a glimpse of my current frustration.

I suppose it will take me about 100 more hours to finish everything. That's nothing compared to what I already invested, but it's a lot more than I hoped for.

Anyway, don't hold your breath just yet, I will post an update as soon as I know more.

Oh, and here are some very early specs for the books:
- 800 pages
- Hardcover
- approx. 1500 new reviews

And no, I still don't have a price yet.

Preorder address is:
preorder1@flexpunk.com