(00:00) Good morning, Hank. It's Tuesday. Greetings from the floor of a hotel room in New York City. 

(00:03) Congratulations on your book! It is just so, so brilliant. It really is the best book I've read about what now feels like, and it's also like a rip-roaring adventure story. 

(00:13) To be honest, when you first told me you were writing a book, part of me was like, "I'm gonna have to be the big brother in this situation, advising him on writing and stuff. But in the end, I can offer you no writing advice at all, only congratulations, in part because our styles are so different. For instance, your book, like, has a proper plot. 

(00:28) But, but Hank, you have to improve your self-promotion. I mean, you made a three minute and forty seven second video about your book in which you failed to mention the title of your book. Which, by the way, is An Absolutely Remarkable Thing. It comes out on September 25th, and is available for pre-order now. 
 
Say it with me Hank, An Absolutely Remarkable Thing comes out on September 25th, and is available for pre-order now. When you are talking about your new book, even if you are talking to your spouse, or your cat, always include those three pieces of information: title, pub date, available for pre-order now. 

(01:02) Also, you didn't talk much about the plot of the book, and I definitely understand the urge to avoid spoilers, but the premise is so, so good. 

(01:08) All right, check this out: A 23 year old graphic designer is walking home from a very late night at work when she happens across a ten-foot tall, seemingly immovable sculpture of, like, a samurai warrior. She names the sculpture Carl in a YouTube video she makes with her friend, and then wakes up the next morning wildly famous, in part because the YouTube video was charming and funny, and in part because fifty other Carls have appeared all over Earth at exactly the same time. 
 
And from there, it just gets amazing. It is the story of one woman's ascent - or possibly descent - into fame and punditry and an exploration of how humans behave when faced with big, shared challenges. 

(01:45) Now, Hank, I don't want to criticize your promo game too much, because you are a good person who understandably doesn't want to bombard our audience with marketing. But this isn't like an ad for Squarespace, which, by the way, is your number one one-stop shop for websites like hankgreen.com. You've been working on this book for years and people want to know about it. Obviously vlogbrothers shouldn't become like a BookTube channel devoted only to one book, but do let us know when, like, there's a cover. God, I cannot wait for the cover! Also, are you going on tour? And can I come? And can we have a bus again? 

(02:13) Okay, lastly - and maybe most importantly - in your announcement video you said this: "Not all pre-orders will be signed. John set unrealistic expectations." 
All right, I get that only someone who finds arguably  pathological joy in repetitive tasks would sign their name 200,000 times, but that doesn't mean that you should sign zero pre-orders. 

(02:30) So yeah, we'll figure something out. Sorry, I had to go out to get a piece of pizza. Let's just resume filming at the hotel room. 

(02:35) Hank, congratulations again on a great book. I am so excited for the world to read it and for the important conversations that will emerge from it. 

(02:41) But before I go, I have to do a bit of self-promo: the first episode of my new podcast, The Anthropocene Reviewed, is out now and available for your listening pleasure. The Anthropocene Reviewed is a podcast where I review different facets of the human-centered planet on a five-star scale. The first episode is about Canada geese, a bird species that nearly went extinct, and Diet Dr. Pepper, a zero calorie soda popularized by a man named Foots. 

(03:04) It's been really fun to work on something personal and also a little weird. I hope you like it. There are links in the dooblydoo below. 

(03:10) Hank, An Absolutely Remarkable Thing comes out September 25th and is available for pre-order now. I will see you on Friday.