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Update 3/16/12: This past Wednesday I was on Live On Three to talk about the book with djWHEAT, SirScoots, and Slasher. It was a really fun interview, and they all had a lot of positive remarks about the project. Check out the VOD of the interview on the book's site (I come in at roughly the 1:47:45 mark).
Update 4/16/12: I've been out of town for a week, so I'm a little late posting this, but I also recently co-hosted StarCast to talk about the week in SC2 as well as to discuss the book. The guys at SCast had some very nice things to say about TYISC2, and even called it an "untrollable" work--a pretty big compliment for anything produced in the gaming community, for sure. You can listen to the episode here, and if you don't already, you should subscribe to the show on iTunes.
About the Book
As some of you may know, I have been working on a StarCraft II book for about eight months. Now, I'm extremely excited to announce, the book is complete, and it goes on sale today on Amazon and Amazon Kindle (Update: Now available on iBooks and NOOK as well). Additionally, if you can't afford the $12.50 for the printed book or the $5.99 for the ebook, you can download the 100% complete PDF for pay-what-you-want (even if "what you want" is $0.00). It is my goal to make this book as accessible to as many fans as possible, so if those prices don't work for you, pay whatever you're comfortable paying.
The Year in StarCraft II: 2011 is an almanac-style celebration of the story of professional StarCraft II in 2011, and it is the first of what I hope to make an annual publication. At its core, it is a recap of the elements that defined professional SC2 during the year and includes the following:
- Performance and play style discussions of 50 of 2011's most important StarCraft II players, from Bomber to IdrA to TLO to White-Ra
- Total win/loss statistics (combined as well as broken down by each major league) for every one of the 280+ players who competed in any post-qualifying DreamHack, GSL, GSTL, IEM, IPL, MLG, NASL, or TSL event throughout the year
- Discussions of the evolution of the game itself, via patches and ladder/tournament map pool changes throughout the year (remember Blistering Sands??)
- Overview of the metagame and its development throughout the year for each matchup
- Miscellaneous statistics highlighting players with the highest win rates, win counts, games played, and other metrics throughout the year
- Co-edited by Liquid`Sheth!
The Year in StarCraft II: 2011 is written for StarCraft II fans of any caliber. For those who are already well-versed in the scene, this is a telling of the way the year played out. For those who follow the scene more casually, it's a great introduction to the most important aspects of the pro circuit. Finally, while TL and Liquipedia obviously do a great job of recording tournament results and players' performance, The Year in StarCraft II: 2011 is also a quick and easy reference for players' total records per league for the year alone.
I firmly believe in the value of recording the history of professional StarCraft II as it happens, and if this first volume is successful, I promise that not only will I continue publishing subsequent editions but that they will continue to get better and better (even though it's off to a pretty awesome start to begin with!). I wrote this book because this is the kind of work that I wanted to read as a fan of this game. This is the book that I feel StarCraft II deserves.
For more information, please check out the book's website at yearinsc2.com. And again, if nothing else, check out the pay-what-you-want PDF. I honestly believe you will love The Year in StarCraft II.
If you have any questions whatsoever, just leave them below, and I'll be happy to answer. And thank you very much to those who have supported me so far. This could be the beginning of something great.
About Me
I'm KingOctavious, otherwise known as Robert C. Ring in the place people tend to call "real life." I am a writer, a StarCraft II enthusiast, a Zerg player, a life-long gamer, and a sci-fi film expert. My first book, Sci-Fi Movie Freak was published by Krause Publications last year. Within the SC2 community, I am a web content developer for Evil Geniuses, I contribute segments regularly to the StarCast podcast, and I have also contributed to the Good Game esports documentary as an interview transcriber. Naturally, I tend to write on the topics about which I am most passionate. StarCraft II is one of those topics. Over the past eight months, I have poured everything into this book, and I could hardly be happier with the outcome. I hope you will enjoy reading it as much as I have enjoyed writing it.
But enough about me. Check out The Year in StarCraft II now!
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thanks, I'll check it out right away and buy it, if I like what I see. ;-)
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Wow I cant say anything about the quality of this but im definitely excited to take a look at it!
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I $%&*ing loved Blistering Sands </3
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I will be buying this on my Kindle!
:D thanks man, keep it up.
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i think free after one week's release is ok for this
but for ppv= = i dont like it
for instance gsl as the best league has free SQ live
but Winter Arena really hurt me
User was warned for this post
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This is sick
MLG does PPV stream for 20$ and nothing for free => I don't watch it You make an awesome book to sell or to download for free => I'm going to give you 20$
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On March 12 2012 21:38 winthrop wrote: i think free after one week's release is ok for this
but for ppv= = i dont like it
for instance gsl as the best league has free SQ live
but Winter Arena really hurt me
Doesnt really have anything to do with anything... he said there is a option to download it for free aswell!
Interested to take a look, well done!
Edit: maybe i misunderstood what you meant though, apologies.
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On March 12 2012 21:38 winthrop wrote: i think free after one week's release is ok for this
but for ppv= = i dont like it
for instance gsl as the best league has free SQ live
but Winter Arena really hurt me
?? What? I'm sorry, I'm not actually sure what you're talking about.
On March 12 2012 21:45 Nyarly wrote:This is sick MLG does PPV stream for 20$ and nothing for free => I don't watch it You make an awesome book to sell or to download for free => I'm going to give you 20$
Thanks a ton!
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I love having a physical copy of a book so I think I'll buy it off amazon. Thank you very much for doing this and I'll be sure to write a review when I can. Good luck in the future and I look forward to the next installment already
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On March 12 2012 22:09 SCPenguin wrote:I love having a physical copy of a book so I think I'll buy it off amazon. Thank you very much for doing this and I'll be sure to write a review when I can. Good luck in the future and I look forward to the next installment already
Thank you so much. Amazon reviews are extremely helpful to the success of the book.
And I got started on the 2012 volume Friday. I'm just as excited as you are!
EDIT: I'll also just add that I do think that for this book in particular, the physical book is the best version to have. Much easier to flip through, etc., and, honestly, it just looks really good.
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That's a bit presumptuous of a subtitle.
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thanks for this! I also say a history of starcraft book but it was for brood war and wasn't free...
your book is great, going to check it right away! <3
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going to buy the physical book, just have to wait for it reaching France ^^ looks really nice, congratulations
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Truly a beautiful gift both to the Community and to spread the word of Starcraft. Going to have a fine read at this. Will buy physical copy if I really enjoy :>
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On March 12 2012 22:04 KingOctavious wrote:Show nested quote +On March 12 2012 21:38 winthrop wrote: i think free after one week's release is ok for this
but for ppv= = i dont like it
for instance gsl as the best league has free SQ live
but Winter Arena really hurt me ?? What? I'm sorry, I'm not actually sure what you're talking about. Show nested quote +On March 12 2012 21:45 Nyarly wrote:This is sick MLG does PPV stream for 20$ and nothing for free => I don't watch it You make an awesome book to sell or to download for free => I'm going to give you 20$ Thanks a ton! i mean MLG is overconfident and they should provide a free 360p like Gom does (but vod pay to watch). its competitors are more awesome(maybe not competitor but alternative)
And you just don't have a competitor this moment, you can make it free to download after one month or two= =
anyway, i appreciate your work. you are pricing like adblock do
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On March 12 2012 21:38 winthrop wrote: i think free after one week's release is ok for this
but for ppv= = i dont like it
for instance gsl as the best league has free SQ live
but Winter Arena really hurt me
Great post or greatest post? <_<
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On March 12 2012 23:15 winthrop wrote:Show nested quote +On March 12 2012 22:04 KingOctavious wrote:On March 12 2012 21:38 winthrop wrote: i think free after one week's release is ok for this
but for ppv= = i dont like it
for instance gsl as the best league has free SQ live
but Winter Arena really hurt me ?? What? I'm sorry, I'm not actually sure what you're talking about. On March 12 2012 21:45 Nyarly wrote:This is sick MLG does PPV stream for 20$ and nothing for free => I don't watch it You make an awesome book to sell or to download for free => I'm going to give you 20$ Thanks a ton! i mean MLG is overconfident and they should provide a free 360p like Gom does (but vod pay to watch). its competitors are more awesome(maybe not competitor but alternative) And you just don't have a competitor this moment, you can make it free to download after one month or two= = anyway, i appreciate your work. you are pricing like adblock do
Yeah, I could have waited to make it free, but I wanted to do so right off the bat. I'm more interested in reaching as many people as possible than turning a quick profit off the book, and additionally, when you make a move like that (waiting and then going free), that shuns your most loyal customers who bought from you right off the bat. I didn't want to punish people for being more interested in the book than others.
EDIT: I'm also not sure you understand my pricing correctly. You mentioned something about PPV in your first post. This is in no way a PPV book. You can buy the ebook or print version, or just download the PDF for whatever price you want.
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i've donated whatever i had left on my paypal which is a little bit over $2 TT
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