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.

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.

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.

• We’re aiming to publish in mid-2011.
• The new edition will add three years of material: 2008 through 2010. (My deadline is end of January.)
• We’ll be asking U2 fans to contribute great photos for possible inclusion in the book, just as we did with the first edition.
• The second edition will include an addendum in the back with corrections and new entries that cover the 1950 to 2007 timeframe of the first book.

That’s about all I know at the moment. I’ve already updated this blog — you can check out the links above for more information, especially the FAQS page where I explain why we’re doing an update only three years after the first book was published. (Basically, because they’re running out of stock of the first book and, rather than re-print thousands of copies of a three-year-old book, it makes more sense to update the book and print those.)

I’ll be posting more frequently here on the blog over the next three months with progress updates and specific calls for help. I’ll be looking for help with:

• identifying errors/typos in the first book that need to be corrected
• identifying dates and events that were left out of the first book and should be added
• solving some of the unsolved mysteries that still remain from the first book
• photo contributions
• etc.

So, please, if you’re interested in following along, feel free to bookmark this site or just subscribe to the RSS feed. And thanks in advance for your help, support, or interest!

I’m the author and, in case you’ve never visited here before, this is the blog that I used to both share and receive information with/from U2 fans all over the world during the writing of U2 – A Diary. The book was published in November 2008 and has received great feedback. You can click the reviews category to see what people have been saying about the book and learn why I think it’s a great gift for U2 fans.

In a nutshell, U2 – A Diary is the history of U2 as told in a timeline-style format with a couple thousand individual diary entries.

Amazon.com seems to have the best price at just under $20. It’s somewhat more expensive on Barnes & Noble‘s web site.

If you’re outside the US, you can try Amazon UK, Amazon Canada, or see this old list I made of online stores worldwide that were selling the book. That’s an old post so it may not be perfectly accurate now.

One last note about the online reviews of U2 – A Diary: The poor review on Amazon.com is from a person who was banned from the U2 fan forum I manage, and the mediocre review on Barnes & Noble’s web site is actually for a different book (one that lists and details all of U2′s concert performances specifically).

If you’re new or if you just have questions about the book, feel free to leave a comment. I do reply as often as possible.

There were about 6-8 other books available for sale, and each one seemed to have plenty of copies remaining when the conference was closing down on Sunday afternoon.

Yay me. :-)

There was a little stall with loadsa U2′s CDs, vinyl and DVDs outside the large music superstore in the main square in Zagreb yesterday. Guess what product had pride of place right slap bang in the middle of the stall…?

And in the minute or so I was there it was snapped up by one guy.

And he sent a couple pics, too:

So I guess I can say that the Croatian version has sold at least one copy for certain. Sure hope it’s sold more, though. :-)

Thx for the pics, Cathal!

I’ll never get used to seeing my book in different languages.

The translation is being published by Menart, which I understand to be a music/record label that has just started translating and publishing books, too. And “U2 Dnevnik” is the first book they chose to translate! What’s really amazing to me is how incredibly enthusiastic Menart is about publishing and promoting this book. Get this:

• Just yesterday, they hosted a U2 Warm-up Party which included a DJ, a U2 tribute band, and “U2 Dnevnik” — all of this on an airplane, it seems! not an airplane, as Marin says in the comments below. Thx for clarifying that, Marin.
• On July 9, Menart is hosting a media event announcing the book. They invited me to attend, but it’s way too expensive to fly to Zagreb (about $3,000 USD) so they’ve asked me to send a 10-minute video answering some questions that the press might want answered. They say the video will air on Croatian TV (I’m not making that up) and during the press event.
• They’ve signed on Vecernji.hr as the media partner for the book launch, and they’re doing a contest where U2 fans will send in questions, they’ll pick the 10 best for me to answer, and when the answers are published, the winning fans get a copy of the book and a CD. (Presumably No Line….)

Is that amazing, or what? And to think that I couldn’t even convince my hometown newspaper to do a writeup on the book….

It’s the Japanese translation of U2 – A Diary! The book is smaller than the original, but also came out at exactly 336 pages. Oh, and unlike the original, this one is a hardcover. I like it!

Seeing your name on any book is cool beyond words, but to then get to see your name on a book that’s been translated into another language? Are you kidding? Totally cool and surreal.

I hope the U2 fans in Japan, and any Japanese speakers/readers around the world who might order this version, enjoy the book. I’m told that the publisher who bought the rights and did the translation has a very good reputation for quality work. Sure looks like it from what I can tell … then again, I can’t understand a word of what’s inside.