I’m very pleased to announce that my upcoming second book, Humans 3.0: The Upgrading of a Species, has found a Canadian publisher. Goose Lane Editions, which has published such amazing Canadian writers as Noah Richler, George Elliott Clark and Douglas Glover, will be releasing Humans 3.0 in early 2015, alongside the book’s U.S. launch by Lyons Press.
I’m obviously stoked, especially after meeting with publisher Susanne Alexander, who very clearly gets the book. In a nutshell, Humans 3.0 examines how technology has affected the various levels of Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs over the course of human evolution. The book takes a statistical look at how technology has changed prosperity, health, relationships, religion and happiness, among other things, then filters it all through a pop culture lens.
It’s a technology book for people who aren’t necessarily into technology - an analysis of how we’re changing because of the things we’re creating, without all the annoying jargon or boosterism that’s often found in tech writing.
So why go the traditional publishing route rather than self-publishing, which is all the rage these days? I’ve seriously considered that question over the past few months and was actually poised to do it on several occasions. I did, however, want to see what sort of interest my book might generate with publishers first, and to see if any impressive offers might arise. To my surprise, two publishers stepped forward, resulting in a minor bidding war. Alexander ended up impressing the heck out of me with her understanding of the book and release plan for it.
To be honest, knowing that a traditional publisher likes your book and wants it is edifying - it’s nice to know that after putting so much work into it, it’s good enough to warrant attention from the so-called gatekeepers. Self-publishing is also a giant risk where all your hard work can easily vanish into a void. With the traditional route, I’ll at least have a printed book that I can hold in my hands and that will sell at least a few copies.
I’m still very jazzed about trying self-publishing, but obviously not with this project. With luck, I’ll have something with which to give it a go before the year is out.
I’ll have some more exciting announcements to make regarding Humans 3.0, including additional territories, very soon.