Although it is still a few weeks until release in the US, my book has been available in the UK since the beginning of this month. Even though I’ll soon receive a box of 50, I paid the extra shipping and duties to get a copy sent over from the UK early– over the protests of my better half. And it was totally worth it.
It’s beautiful. I was really worried they’d screw up the graphics or placement or something, but as far as I can tell, the typesetters have done a wonderful job. I’m delighted with the final product– it’s compact and readable and eminently well-produced through team effort.
I’ve had several friends ask why not a hardcover, or if a hardcover version is coming. It’s actually usually the other way around– booksellers tend to promote new releases as hardcovers, which they can sell at a big markup, and then downscale to paperback if they think they can move enough volume to make it profitable. I have no power over the pricing at all, but I really want the book to be affordable, so I was able to convince Casemate that (due to the timeliness of the popular Stoicism movement) we will probably be able to sell more copies than their usual releases, and will probably do well at a low price-point. So they’re going straight to paperback, for $19. That’s still more expensive than I would have preferred, but its the best I could do, and I think the best possible strategy for this book.
And as pretty as a hardcover would be, I do prefer the compactness of paperback. There will be an e-book, but I personally prefer paper. What I received from UK is perfect.
Finally– and I’m really excited about this– they’ve tapped the wonderful actor Stephen Caffrey to read the audiobook, which releases mid-December. He’s got a beautiful voice (and sounds much smarter than me!), and I can’t wait to hear the job he does with this project!
William C. Spears 
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