EPT![[image loading]](http://www.teamliquid.net/staff/choboPEon/bible.jpg)
by All of us
The original thread, September 22, 2010
The book announcement, October 29, 2010.
Purchase the book, January 3, 2011
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ylOT9Q4UUHE
![[image loading]](https://www.createspace.com/Img/T353/T48/T80/ThumbnailImage.jpg)
The StarCraft Bible is live.
$16.99 for the 225pg paperback. It is on Amazon!
$9.99, Kindle e-Book (or Amazon.uk here). If you do not own a Kindle, you can still use the service for free. If you purchase the book here, I encourage you to leave an honest review.
A DRM-free PDF is available (scroll down here). Your eReader, computer or the device of your choosing should be able to read it. If you order it, supply me with your email address during the purchase process. The book will be delivered to your email inbox as soon as possible.
Coming soon: Barnes and Noble Nook eBook (should be available within 24-48 hours from now), Apple iBook (No ETA available), Sony eReader (No ETA available), Paperback in 'normal' Amazon store (as soon as Amazon chooses to, likely early this week).
If you'd like to contact me, don't hesitate to do so (TL's PM system is fine, too).
Thank you, thank you, thank you for everyone who liked what I wrote and encouraged me to make it into a book. It's really amazing to see the community work together like this. I hope you love it.
+ Show Spoiler [Announcement] +
Finally, here we are. The StarCraft Bible (225 pgs) will be available as a paperback and an e-book on January 3rd.
The Bible began as an idea six months ago as a posting on a message board. After a twisting journey propelled by the StarCraft community's encouragement, a journey which included stints above and below my consciousness, the Bible has become a book. Finally.
I didn't know what to expect when I began the project. There was excitement and hope from hundreds of people but the actual finished product was just a vague idea in my mind. Now it has materialized in the form of a 225 page book complete with pretty pictures and the sort of writing that won readers over in the beginning.
The final copy of the book is resting in my lap and yet this does not feel finished. It feels more like a first step toward something bigger and better. It was a step taken quickly, excitedly and without much knowledge about what lay ahead. I guess we'll find out if it's anything worth talking about.
I spoke with a number of incredible people including very recent conversations with two of the most well-loved figures in StarCraft. Grrrr...., someone I watched and revered as a kid, talked with me about his struggles and triumphs in South Korea. He was out until 4am the night before he won his Starleague. DjWheat, an e-sports apostle, told stories that will fill you with envy and hope. In Seoul, he had to duck out the back of a restaurant after lunch with Lim Yo Hwan to avoid a rowdy mob of Boxer fans.
Everyone involved put a lot of work into this. The submissions and interviews were top notch and well thought out. I spent more hours than I can count on this book and I know that I am not the only one. It's not perfect but it's a first attempt at raising the bar in e-sports, at creating something that may begin to be justifiably called e-sports journalism if we continue to work hard.
This was published with my money, with the hard work of every contributor and on the high shoulders of the greatest e-sport ever: StarCraft. This is not backed by any major publisher or even website and will not be raking in millions with the next Twilight. But that was never the point.
Allow me to quote an inspiration of mine:
This isn’t some vanity-press sour-grapes effort. The simple truth is that we probably can’t compete on the shelves at Barnes & Noble alongside every other book in the world. The agents and the publishers are right; it might not work for a mass market. That’s okay. We don’t need to sell it to everyone. We don’t need to sell 100,000 copies; we don’t have the rent on a New York office to pay for.
We only need to sell it to you.
We only need to sell it to you.
The goal is to spread the gospel, truths about e-sports. The goal is to create something worth reading, to win new converts, to be passionate about what we love. The goal is to look into the past and to build for the future.
To quote my inspirations once more:
Did you know that on any given day, an Amazon.com bestseller only sells a few hundred copies? Sure, they sell a few hundred copies a day for weeks and months on end, but what we’ve learned is that it only takes a few hundred sales on a single day to become an Amazon.com bestseller.
Becoming a success, being noticed, capturing the attention of a big audience is within our reach. It takes hard work, a quality product and a passionate audience. If we have nothing else, we have that.
Instructions on purchasing the book will be listed here, on Team Liquid, on the book's blog and everywhere I can be found (eg Twitter and other forums). It will be for sale on Amazon as a paper back and from the Kindle and the Nook as an e-book.
Tell people about it. Post links on Facebook, discuss it in forums, talk to everyone you know with an interest in e-sports or RTS games. Tweet it. Call me a nerd as you stay up past midnight to read it. Show your kid the pretty pictures. Capture people's attention.
When you've read it, review it. Do so on Amazon, on Facebook, on forums and at the dinner table. Tell me how you feel about it, tell everyone. Most of all, be honest and be loud if you think the book calls for it.
I don't have a marketing budget and I have no backing but what I have in my own pocket. This project will succeed or fail on word of mouth.
The weapons in our arsenal are passion and excitement. I'm feeling ambitious. Let's see how far they can take us.
Thank you to:+ Show Spoiler +
Team Liquid for being the backbone of StarCraft for much of the world.
The TL writers for raising the bar of e-sports writing.
ilnp aka dudey of old-school fame, an awesome help.
Pillars, an ex-professional who shed light on the old days.
Artosis, one of the best commentators around and always willing to drop knowledge on my head.
Sean Plott for being a phenomenal ambassador.
Marcus "djWheat" Graham for being the sharpest Swiss Army Knife of e-sports.
JP McDaniel for being excellent.
Ret for being unyieldingly impressive and a good psych patient as well.
Guillaume "Grrrr..." Patry, the one and only, for being frankly honest.
Bertrand "ElkY" Grospellier for being excited about this and teaching me what geek chills were.
tec27 because he's consistently awesome. Hi tec.
IdrA for being a super-villain.
~NoHunters for being abrasive assholes and just my sort of people for more than a decade.
WaxAngel, the old torch bearer.
blid, the torch carrier for the Warcraft 2 community, always willing to illuminate the old game.
The surviving Warcraft 2 community for being so willing to talk about your game.
Liquipedia for beginning what will likely be years of difficult but excellent work. A completely underappreciated tool.
TLPD for giving me all the statistics in the entire universe.
Spencer Wightman, Xxio, for doing what he does best.
Nathan Smolin for taking the road less traveled by, making all the difference in his piece.
Arrian for thinking big picture and writing even bigger.
Xxio for being a great talent and unsung hero and helping continue a great tradition.
Cedstick for giving us beautiful pictures, a window into the e-sport world.
Stefan “MorroW” Andersson, the Swedish Terran with an eye on Seoul.
KDraconis, the StarCraft: Legacy writer with unique insight into Korea.
Captain Peabody, the TL poster and fiction writer.
Alex “Aeres” Dellinger, the TL poster and pro-gamer biographer.
Leandro Gobbo, who has kindly offered to help in translation duties for this mammoth project.
Wayne “d22-soso” Chiang, the old school gamer with great insight into the beginnings of the scene.
Jay “gadianton” Severson, soso’s right hand man and another great source of insight into StarCraft antiquity.
prodiG, the ICCup map-maker.
emythrel, a man with talent for teaching.
Dakine, a wealth of WarCraft 2 information.
Josh "AskJosh" Suth, the quiet YouTube dreamer.
"Fenix" Jian Carlo Morayra Alejo, the workman Terran out of Peru.
I forgot people, I'm sure. It's been a long process and I am sincerely sorry to those momentarily forgotten. Let me know who I forgot, I'll be glad to give you the thanks you deserve.
If you contributed to and are featured in the book, you deserve a free copy. Contact me and I will get it to you ASAP.
+ Show Spoiler [Original Post] +
The StarCraft Bible is going to be published in December. A book? Crazy, I know. To do it, I need your help.
A month ago, I posted The StarCraft Bible. Check it out, people (really) liked it. Since then, I have been asked when I'm going to finish it. It's actually been really neat getting those questions constantly - thank you for reading it and thanks for caring enough to want more.
So, when am I going to finish it? Now.
All this month, I am going to be writing, refining and completing the original project. I am going to make it great, I promise you. But I want your help to go further than that. This is going to be a community project.
I am going to take submissions for the book until
We're on the look out for any sort of submission you can imagine. Be creative. Think about how the game has affected your life, think about the legends who have played and think about the giants whose shoulders we stand on. A short list of some ideas: Histories of StarCraft and all relevant video games, personal stories, art work, creative writing - hell, love letters to your favorite units (Dear Reaver, why hath you forsaken me?). Anything! We're keeping an extremely open mind for submissions. Every idea will get a fair shake.
As one TLer recently wrote, "Not only would it help e-sports, it would help people understand just why starcraft is so special, and what it means to us all."
This is not going to be a text book. This is going to be a (thoroughly manly) love letter.
Here's how to submit: PM me here or email me at apexcp at gmail dot com. Again, the deadline is Dec 7. However, that may slide up or down depending on the response! So make sure you tell me you are interested as soon as possible! I'd hate to exclude great stuff because of a missed deadline.
Me and my crack team will gather the highest quality submissions and put together a book worth your time. We'll hit the printers in early December and, if all goes according to plan, by mid to early December, you'll be able to order a copy. By the holidays, you'll have a shiny new present to share.
Over the next month, I'll keep you guys posted on who is getting involved and what is being done.
A FAQ!
+ Show Spoiler +
Is everything final?
Nothing is final. Not the title, not the content and not distribution method. Suggestions for all aspects of the project are welcome.
What do I get if published?
A copy of the book, due credit and probably a lifetime supply of high fives.
Will this book physically exist or will it be an ebook?
It will both physically exist and be an e-book.
What length are you looking for in submissions?
Max short story length in many anthologies is from 7K-9k words. Keep that number in mind, send me what you've come up with and I will be mercilessly honest from there.
On a brief personal note, it's been my dream for a while to publish a good book. I'm going to put some hard work into this and I can't wait to see you guys match it with your submissions.
Second to last, who do you suggest we include? Which member of the community do you want to see in here?
And finally, suggestions for all aspects of the project are welcome. Let me have it, it can only improve the final product.
P.S. Even if you aren't going to submit something yourself, talk about it to your friends. Who knows, maybe your clan-mate has the perfect story/piece of art to share. This entire project will work best via word of mouth, so start talking!
--
Because publishing a book independently is a strange experience and because spamming TL is not always the best way to get your thoughts down, I've put down roots at a simple little blog http://thestarcraftbible.wordpress.com/.
If anyone is looking for ideas for submissions, I'm compiling a few ideas right here: Ideas
Thanks to everyone who has indicated interest so far. Make sure to tell people about this. The more submissions the better.
And news on who is participating as soon as I get a nice, thick list of 'em.
--
Please, feel free to ask me for ideas if you’d like to contribute but cannot pinpoint how. I’d be happy to brainstorm with you here, over IM, over e-mail - anywhere.
A few examples: chronicling major events in e-sport history, profiling major personalities, writing personal stories about your experience as a fan such as your first time watching a professional game or something like that.
You can write an opinion piece of the future (or past) of e-sports, about the place video games hold in our culture, about video games and art (are video games art?), about the most loved players of all time (perhaps about your favorites?).
Why is StarCraft special? How and why do games inspire such a following?
Write about the flood of new players over the past few years OR write about what it was like to be a new player coming to a well-established community.
Write about cheating in gaming, match throwing, hacking and its morality and effect on e-sports. Write about how this is a cerebral game and what that means.
Write about people doing what they love (a la the post-finals speech).
Write about the legal side of things: Blizzard suing hackers, Blizzard's fight with KeSPA and that whole mess, IP - this literally goes on forever and if anyone wants more legal ideas, they're infinite. Let's talk.
Hell, write about StarCraft under the influence is more dangerous than DUI cause you keep crashing your dropship into trees on LT. Go gonzo.
It goes on and on, this book will be a diverse set of work. I'm really more than willing to sit down and talk with anyone who wants to contribute as long as you're serious about it. We can come up with a topic that moves you to write.
