BACKGROUND
I had no endgame in mind for the articles, texts and write-ups I published when I started the original Rocking In the Norselands Facebook page in 2017. I wanted to build up a decent collection of music articles of the type I liked reading myself – with detail, facts, and background. In 2020, I realised I had succeeded to the extent that if I didn’t move them over to a website, most of them would be buried in the depths of Facebook. Thus, this website was born.
As I worked on moving things over from Facebook to web, brushing up quite a few of the older articles in the progress, I started thinking about how fun it would be to have them collected in a proper book, primarily thinking about a copy for myself. The internet is at the end of the day flimsy in nature, and one day even this site will be gone. A book on the shelf is however very concrete and has the potential to last quite a while longer – and I love physical product to begin with.
The idea has matured, and I am currently planning a limited self-published print run. Some people have signalled a strong and clear interest in buying a copy, which is extremely flattering. My main ambition is still to sell one copy – the one that will end up on my own shelf. Getting that book will be awesome.
By selling some copies, I could get the funds to make it slightly more extravagant – better paper quality, possibly hardcover, maybe pay for some illustrations, etc.
I don’t want to put together anything until I have the articles I want to include, so up to this point I have continued to focus on writing new articles while loosely getting my thoughts together on how the book should be sequenced. When I am happy that the articles I’d want to be part of a book exists, I’ll move on – and I’m getting there at this point. With that done, all of the pieces will be organised into an order that makes sense.
FORMAT & LOOK
Several formats are possible, but given the fact that there is a heckload of content to fit in, A4 is most likely. I am considering releasing it both a softcover and a hardcover edition. As of the end of 2023, I am in the process of testing a publisher with a small run of copies of another book project I am doing. If I am happy with the results, I have found my self-publishing solution.
Just like the stories you are used to seeing on the site, the book will cover multiple artists over several decades, with song facts and stories of all kinds. The plan is to collect the best pieces from these past soon-to-be-four years and present them in a decent collection. The goal is as always to make sure every story is interesting and/or an entertaining read, even if the artist in question isn’t one of your favourites.
Music-related illustrations will liven up the pages throughout the book, having been created especially for the project by a well-known Norwegian illustrator. A foreword has also been written by a certain individual that several of you will know well. These are all done and delivered.
The book will also contain an introductory chapter where I talk about my personal collecting and music story. The number of anecdotes and stories I have gathered over the years could probably fill a book of its own, but this will be more of an overview with personal perspectives.
TIMELINE
A book would realistically not start being put together until sometime during the first half of 2024, with an aim to release it sometime during the second half of the year. There is no firm timeline in place yet, so this is just a rough estimate that might be inaccurate, but that’s OK. I primarily regard this as an experiment, something I do to challenge myself, and to learn something new. That is just as well, because this is never going to be a money-making project or something I can work on as a priority. Breaking even is the financial success criteria.
SUBSCRIBE TO BOOK UPDATES
If you are interested in updates about this project and/or want to be first in line to secure yourself one of the copies that will be made, please sign up for updates below. Doing so is no obligation to buy – it simply keeps you informed of the progress. It also gives you links to purchase before anyone else when the time comes, should you choose to do so.
Your info is sent via an SSL-encrypted connection, will never be handed over to anyone else, and I will only ever use it specifically to provide updates about the RITN book and nothing else.
Thank you so much for your interest!
