U2-A Diary

A few people have asked me if the second edition of U2-A Diary is available in the U.S. yet, and it’s not — at least not directly from a U.S. seller like Amazon.com or Barnes & Noble. But their questions have prompted me to write this update on the book for anyone who might be shopping for a gift for a U2 fan.

1.) You can still get the limited hardcover edition!

This copy of U2-A Diary just arrived at Casa McGee last week. I ordered it from Amazon UK in early November, and it took about a month to get to me. So, if you’re ordering now in the U.S., it won’t get to you by Christmas.

But it’s worth the wait! The hardcover edition is a thing of beauty. It has the updated cover (the one that I was told wouldn’t be used) with the additional purple color/lights. It’s exactly 400 pages and includes:

• all of the same text from the first edition of the book, plus additional diary entries through the end of 2010
• an addendum with new material and corrections covering up to 2007 (the timeframe from the first edition)
• an updated Acknowledgments section with a new intro that I wrote for the new material

This hardback edition has been out for a year now, but has only been printed in limited quantities. I haven’t been able to get an exact number from the publisher, but I believe it to be in the hundreds, not thousands, so there may not be many left.

The original hardback version was printed in 2011 with an error on pg. 373: the entries covering December 9 through December 29, 2009 were missing. My publisher fixed the error and asked Amazon and other outlets to remove the misprinted version from their warehouses. The book above that just arrived is correct and not missing any entries. I also ordered the hardback edition back in May from Amazon UK and it was also correct. I trust that you’ll get the correct version if you order now, too, but I suppose there’s a remote chance you may get the misprint.

2.) The hardback version might be available from Amazon Canada. (And maybe Amazon.com.)

My friend Aaron from U2 Wanderer recently ordered from Amazon Canada and was sent the hardback version; not as an “import,” but as a direct purchase from Amazon Canada. I was told that the second edition would not be available at all in North America, so I don’t know how that happened … but it did.

If that happened via Amazon Canada, it might also happen via Amazon.com. But I still think the safest way to get the hardback version is from Amazon UK.

As I look at both Amazon.com and Amazon CA, the hardback version is listed as being available from some 3rd-party sellers. That’s another option, but there may be some risk in terms of book quality when buying from these sources.

3.) What’s up with the paperback version?

I have not seen what the paperback version looks like. It may have the same cover as the hardback; it may not. I’m also not aware of the printing error on pg. 373 that affected the hardback version also affected the paperback version.

I do know that, like the hardback version, it’s not supposed to available in North America — so Amazon UK is your best bet.

BUT … when I look at the paperback listing on Amazon UK, it appears to be the older/original version of the book, not the second edition. It’s also more expensive than the hardback version, so you might want to stick with the hardback.

I hope this helps update what’s going on with the book. Feel free to leave any questions in the comments and I’ll do my best to answer.

It’s obvious by now that the 2nd edition of U2-A Diary didn’t come out in July as originally planned. To those of you who pre-ordered early on and have been waiting — I’m very sorry. If there was something I could have done to get the book out on that original schedule, I would’ve done it.

From what I understand (which isn’t much), the book has been delayed because of printing and print-related cost concerns (i.e., higher cost of the heavy paper stock that the publisher used on the 1st edition and things like that). That said, I’m finally able to report some news about the book — some good and some bad.

The Good News

The second edition is back on schedule and should be available sometime in November/December. You’ll note that the Amazon UK page shows the release date as November 30. I don’t know if that’s perfectly reliable, but hopefully it’ll begin to ship around that time.

The Bad News

As of this moment, the second edition has not been picked up outside of the UK. The word from my editor is as follows:

As yet our US distributors have not ordered any copies of the new edition because they have unsold copies of the old edition. This may change but I am not in a position to force them to order it – unfortunately.

So, if you want to get the second edition right away, it seems like you’ll have to order it from Amazon.co.uk or whatever UK-based bookstore you prefer.

I apologize for the inconvenience.

This Is Important, Too

If you click the link above to visit the book’s page on Amazon UK, you’ll see a cover image that looks similar to the original book, but with more purpley designs:

As you see in the text I added, that’s NOT what the second edition is going to look like. Actually, it’s going to look like just like the first edition. It’ll have the same exact cover, but with a sticker (or something similar) that says “2nd Edition” or “Updated Edition” or something along those lines.

So, please don’t be surprised/angry when the book that you’ve ordered arrives and doesn’t look like what Amazon UK is showing. We’ve tried to get them to change the cover back, but it’s apparently not easy to do.

Needless to say, I’ll post new updates as I get any more information. But for now, the main points are:

1. UK sales only for the second edition.
2. The cover shown on Amazon UK is NOT what you’ll be getting.

This is quite an honor for me to see:

That photo is from the 4th annual Always Remember Gala hosted last month in New York City by an organization I love called Voices of September 11th. The event included a fund raiser, and I was honored to offer a signed copy of the 2nd edition of U2-A Diary as one of the silent auction items. I don’t know yet who the high bidder was, but when the 2nd edition is available — which should be soon! — I’ll sign a copy and send it to him/her.

BTW, the organization is raising money for a 9/11 “living memorial” and I’ve written more about that on my personal blog, so please check that out for more information about what this amazing group is doing.

Just passing along some good news from Omnibus Press: When the updated version of U2-A Diary comes out later this year, it will also be released in two new countries!

Translations are planned in both Portugal and Serbia. I don’t know when they’ll be available, though. The English-language book is being targeted for release in July. I don’t know if the translations will be ready at the same time, or some time later in the year. If I find out more, I’ll certainly share the news.

The first edition of U2-A Diary was translated into Japanese and Croatian. (If you missed it before, I explained a couple years ago how international translations work.)

(map image via Shutterstock)

If you’re a big iPad user, or iBooks reader on your iPhone, you may already know this. Me? I just discovered tonight that U2 – A Diary is available in Apple’s iBooks store. The cost is $14.99, which is probably a little higher than I’d expect — but less than the “new” price at most places that are selling the print version.

The iBooks store offers a sample, too, which can be downloaded for free. (see it above in my library) The sample is the start of the book up through about page 24, which tells the story from the beginning (195) up until late 1979. It’s a pretty good sample of material, but it’s a bit light on images.

So … if you haven’t read the book yet, or if you’ve read it but you also want a digital copy for your iPad or iPhone … check it out in the iBooks store. And let me know what you think about reading digital copies of books.

Here are a couple pages of the sample.