The BBook of Geek
The BBook of Geek Invades Madison  E-mail
Written by Brian Briggs   
Monday, 16 February 2009 00:00

Once again I emerged from the BBasement for another BBook signing event. This time on the frozen tundra of Lambeau Field. OK, it was a Borders in Madison, but it was Wisconsin so I was close. I loaded up the BBvan on Thursday morning, and headed off for the 6.5 hour drive.

I was staying with Kozz who does the programming around here, so I punched in his address into the GPS unit. Unfortunately, he codes from such a secret location, that not even the military satellites know where he is. Luckily, I had printed out the directions from Google Maps (double true!!), so I didn't panic.

The drive was uneventful except for the fight that nearly broke out at the McDonald's over a Sprite dispenser that wasn't functioning. I gripped my Swiss Army Knife tightly, just in case, but it wasn't needed. I spent most of the drive listening to John Hodgman's The Areas of my Expertise. A hilarious work that also featured Jonathan Coulton much more than I was expecting. It was an appropriately geeky work to get me in the mood for my presentation.

I was greeted at the Kozz household by their 3-year-old Thomas who quickly became my best friend. I'm normally a kid-magnet, so this was not surprising. Before I could even get my coat off I was pulled downstairs to play. I spent the next hour and a half before the BBook signing, playing airplane and bouncing him on his head. Eventually, the babysitter showed up, and I snuck out the back for the BBook signing.

Despite the not-so-trusty navigation from Kozz, we made it to the store on time. I was greeted with the universal sign for "loser," which was not so insulting as it sounds. The employees at the store were ready for me as shouts of "long live the geek" rang through the store as we journeyed to the "green room."

The event itself was sparsely attended, but the patrons that did attend laughed at appropriate places and bought copies of the BBook, so I surmised they weren't homeless people recruited off the streets. A BBig thumbs up for Abigail at Borders who made me feel like a real celebrity author, and requested a extra-special-bonus-director's cut reading from the BBook.

We followed the reading with a trip to an Irish Pub for some wings (Irish), calamari (Irish) and combo beers (truly Irish). I was flattered to receive a gift bag full of cheese and sausage of Wisconsin origin and of all types. No Doritos needed for the ride home.

The ride home was less eventful or more uneventful than the ride there. I finished up The Areas of my Expertise and moved on to the highly-recommended Shadow Divers. It's the story of wreck divers discovering a German U-boat at the bottom of the Atlantic off the coast of New Jersey. I'm only halfway through the book, but it's a fascinating read.

I have a good story to share about our book club meeting last night for Ender's Game, but this entry is already too long. I'll either post another entry later today, or save it for tomorrow.

That's all I've got for now. Stay geeky!

Last Updated ( Monday, 09 March 2009 13:50 )
 
BBook Signing at Barnes and Noble  E-mail
Written by Administrator   
Tuesday, 02 December 2008 15:09
I will be appearing at the Barnes and Noble on Washtenaw in Ann Arbor, Michigan on December 20th at 4-5 PM.  If you missed the launch event at Borders, you'll want to make it to this one.  It's the last Saturday to get the BBook before Christmas (it makes  a great gift for geek and nongeek alike).  I hope to see you there.  Click here for a map to the store.
 
Report from The BBook of Geek Launch Event  E-mail
Written by Administrator   
Thursday, 13 November 2008 21:18

I have three words for the short version of the BBook launch event last night: It was awesome. If you'd like the longer version keep reading...

It was a roller coaster of emotions all day long. From panic in the morning to calm euphoria by the end of the evening. You heard about the panic yesterday when the Borders Web site had the event time at 8:30 PM instead of the much promoted 7 PM. After that was resolved I had a much better day, but not entirely panic free.

To stave off the panic during the day, I did a lot of rehearsal of my remarks in front of the Web cam. I decided on which stories I would read during the event, and practiced my comments. For anyone looking to fight anxiety before public speaking, being proactive and practicing what you're going to do works wonders (at least it did for me).

By dinner the nerves started to return. I have plenty of experience being anxious, so I knew the body sensations quite well, and where panic can lead. I managed to fight them off effectively. After being confident most of the day, on the way to the event, I started to think this may not go as well as I had hoped.

Luckily for me, in the parking structure we ran into an old coworker of mine from the the pre-"quit your day job" days. I haven't seen him in five years, so chatting with him walking to the store helped take my mind off the panic.

It was the week of Brian events as Brian Wilson was making an appearance at the store today. He got a big poster in the window, but I did get a nice placard on the door entrance.

We entered the store, and I saw a big rack of The BBook of Geek by the information desk. We wandered over to marvel at the public display. I must've looked odd with my arm full of props from the BBook all in a silver robot head box (my Rubik's Cube, my Doctor Who scarf, my LEGO self-portrait and others) because an associate approached me and asked if I needed any help. I pointed at the BBook on the shelf and said "That's me."

She radioed for help (not security) and a friendly associate with a Federation symbol on one bicep and a Star Wars symbol on the other came over to help (I don't think he got the tatts just for the signing, but maybe he did). He escorted us down to the green room in the BBasement of Borders. The manager met me down there and asked if there was anything I needed before the show. I told him some finger sandwiches and a kilo of coke. After he said they were out of sandwiches, I just asked for a bottle of water.

We moseyed up to the top floor to see the layout for the event. A small table adorned with BBooks and a small podium was my homebase and rows of chairs were set up in front of me. Shortly after people began arriving.

About five minutes after 7 PM, I started in on the presentation. I introduced myself and thanked some of the people there including Michael Webb who did the photos for the BBook and was also photographing the signing (I'll get the pics and post them on Friday or Saturday). I did some background info on the site, and some info on the BBook itself. Then I started the readings. I started doing them in binary, which confused some people (maybe Klingon would've been funnier).

I read five different stories, and they were well-received with laughter. My remarks and readings lasted about twenty five minutes, then we went to a Q and A format. By this time more chairs had to be added for the crowd, and by the end there was a row of people standing in the back. My son started out the questions, but after that a flood of questions poured in. After about twenty minutes of questions people lined up for the signing.

The signing portion lasted for about forty minutes or so. Afterwards, the manager of the store said he was very happy with how the event went. He said this was probably the biggest local event he's had at the store since he's been there. He said that usually they're happy when they sell 10-15 books at a local event, and we more than tripled the 10. He said I'm welcome back for BBook of Geek 2.0. He also mentioned that they had NYT bestselling author John Grogan (Marley and Me) in there last week, and my event was much bigger.

Overall, it was a great experience for me and it was pleasing to hear the comments from the manager of the store. I have to say it was a bit surreal to see a long line of people queued up to get my signature on a book I wrote. I'm not sure my brain has quite processed that image yet. It might take a few days.

I want to finish this overly long post by once again thanking all the people that were there in person and in spirit. I usually have miles of cable between me and my audience, so the corporeal support will definitely live with me for a long time. Thanks!

As a reminder if you missed last night's event, you can wait until I come to a store near you, or purchase a custom-signed copy from the BBook store.

That's all I've got for now. Stay geeky!

Last Updated ( Thursday, 13 November 2008 21:19 )
 
First Shots of The BBook of Geek in the Wild  E-mail
Written by Administrator   
Thursday, 06 November 2008 13:40

From: Maurice
Date: Thu, Oct 30, 2008 at 7:46 AM
Subject: BBook
To: Brian Briggs

When I came into work this morning, I saw this lying on my desk. Believe me, it was much more pleasant than what I usually find there.

I thought (much like ThinkGeek) you might enjoy "action shots" of people enjoying your book in the real world. Looking forward to getting into it. Thanks again for making a great site, and a funny book.

Action Shot

I love action shots. This e-mail address is being protected from spambots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it

Last Updated ( Thursday, 06 November 2008 13:44 )
 
Buy the BBook  E-mail
Written by Administrator   
Tuesday, 28 October 2008 19:14

It's been a busy day, and I suspect the next eight days will be just as busy. Looks like I'm going to get some coverage for the BBook in my hometown newspaper of Milan. The circulation probably reaches four figures!

As promised I also set up a page to order your signed copy of the BBook. I can't get them to you before the release date of November 4th, but I will do my best to get them to you by that day if you order one this week. The cost is just $19.95 for a signed copy with free shipping in the US.

I'm not an expert at designing sales pages, so if you have any suggestions on improvements, I would This e-mail address is being protected from spambots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it .

 
Behind the Scenes at The BBook of Geek  E-mail
Written by Administrator   
Thursday, 23 October 2008 18:24

I promised some more scoop on the BBook this week, so I thought I'd share some photos from the "making of" the BBook. I might've posted some of these before, but not all of them. From a press release for the BBook here's a quick summary of what it's about:

The BBook of Geek breaks down geekdom into eight pillars of knowledge: science, literature, hardware, software, gaming, movies, TV and the Internet. Each pillar has 16 topics that range from Einstein to emacs, from Stan Lee to Star Trek and everything in between. Also, to make the transition from computer to book easier, The BBook of Geek comes installed with hexadecimal page numbers for its 256 pages (00-FF).

To expand on that a little. Each of the 128 topics has two pages dedicated to it; a "fact" page (and if' you're a frequent reader of BBspot you'll know why fact is in quotes) and a "story" page. The fact page gives a quick summary of why the topic is geeky then lists six "facts" about the topic. The facing page is the "story" page and features BBspot-type content about the topic, be it a top 11 list, quiz, fake news story or something else.

Each topic also has a photo on the fact page. Most of them are of me (BB) as the topic. Depending on the topic it could be a recreation of a famous photo (like Einstein) or a more abstract representation (like for caffeine). That's 128 pictures included at no extra cost.

These pictures required me to hunt down or create some geeky props and costumes (I'm set for the next 128 Halloweens). It also required that I set up a photo studio down in the BBasement. Luckily, we have a friend that has been trained as a photographer and does weddings and graduation pictures on the side. I say luckily because I never would've been able to afford the standard rate of a photographer for as much time as we spent on it. I'm also not sure I would've dressed up in some of the things that I did for a stranger.

I'm pleased with how the writing and the pictures turned out. I hope you are too.

Here are some images taken during the creation of some of the photos for the BBook.

This is the first picture I took for the BBook. It's me imitating the famous Einstein. I did this to insert into some mock pages I created for my editor, when we were still developing the concept for the BBook. The final version in the BBook looks much closer to the real thing.

Einstein

Here's a picture of Mike and I at work taking one of the photos for the BBook. You can see our studio setup in the BBasement pretty well. It's one of the tamer photos.

Studio

For a few of the images I had to put on some makeup. Here I am in complete whiteface. The first attempt, I had some cheap Halloween makeup that sucked. I ended up ordering some professional clown makeup, which worked much better. I have enough whiteface makeup for the next century.

White Face

You might remember I asked for advice on spiking up my hair for one of the photos. I got some great advice involving egg whites, sugar, and lots of blow drying. I think I had to run outside with this hair to give something to my son as he left for the bus. I don't think the neighbors trust me any more.

Spiked

And finally for today, we struggled to come up with some ideas for the cover of the BBook. At one point I suggested I combine many different topics to create an uber-geek image. Ultimately, we never went with that idea, but here are some of the images from that shoot.

Cover 1

Cover 2

Cover 3

As we get closer, I'll post some more information about and more images from the BBook. I might even be able to convince my editor to let me post a couple sample pages from the BBook so you can "look inside." Stay tuned.

That's all I've got for now. Stay geeky!

 
The BBook of Geek Launch Event  E-mail
Written by Administrator   
Thursday, 09 October 2008 19:24
It has been confirmed. I will be making a public appearance at Borders #1 to launch the BBook of Geek. It'll be a reading/Q&A/signing event. I may even do the robot, if asked nicely. It's on 11/11 at 7 pm. I thought 11/11 was a nice binary date to have the thing on. If our economy has evolved into the barter system, I will be accepting goats and chickens in exchange for the BBook. I hope to see you all there!
Last Updated ( Thursday, 06 November 2008 13:45 )
 
Advance Copies Have Arrived  E-mail
Written by Administrator   
Monday, 15 September 2008 22:15

I defy anyone to find a geekier author-with-the-first-copies-of-his-book picture on the intarwebs:

From left to right that's Fry, Bender, Leela, Darth Vader, BB (w/ Dr. Who scarf and six copies of The BBook of Geek), Captain Kirk, Cthulhu, Yoda and map of Middle Earth.

I've been smiling since the BBooks have arrived. It's hard to believe this day has arrived.

Last Updated ( Monday, 15 September 2008 22:17 )
 
Two More Online Stores  E-mail
Written by Administrator   
Monday, 15 September 2008 22:13

Only 50 days until the launch of the BBook and there are two more places to buy the BBook online: Powell's in the US and Booktopia in Australia. G'day mate.

Last Updated ( Monday, 15 September 2008 22:14 )
 
The First Review Is In  E-mail
Written by Administrator   
Tuesday, 02 September 2008 21:07
The first review is in, and it's positive.  You can check it out over here at the Weekly Geek web site. After reading that review you might want to go preorder your copy over at Amazon.
Last Updated ( Tuesday, 02 September 2008 21:10 )
 
Another Retailer  E-mail
Written by Brian Briggs   
Monday, 25 August 2008 02:02
Another online retailer is carrying the BBook.  This time it's Blackwell in the UK.  I'm not familiar with them, but it looks like a pretty big place.  The network is growing.  Soon it will be available everywhere. 
Last Updated ( Monday, 15 September 2008 20:03 )
 
Galley Copies  E-mail
Written by Administrator   
Wednesday, 06 August 2008 20:10
I've received galley copies of the BBook and three quotes for the cover and inside the BBook.  With my promo covers I can now create a BBeta version of the BBook.  Sweet.
 
Publishers Weekly  E-mail
Written by Administrator   
Thursday, 17 July 2008 19:23
The BBook of Geek gets a mention in Publishers Weekly near the end of this article about humor books that are coming out this fall.
Last Updated ( Thursday, 17 July 2008 19:25 )
 
The BBook of Geek  E-mail
Written by Administrator   
Tuesday, 24 June 2008 20:22

The BBook of Geek

The BBook of Geek available now for pre-order at Amazon.com. More information available at BBspot.com.

Last Updated ( Friday, 27 June 2008 20:48 )
 
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