When we released “To Make as Perfectly as Possible” at Woodworking in America this weekend, there was one recurring comment from the customers:
“I bet you are proud and happy to see this released.”
My response was entirely undiplomatic.
“Actually, I’d be perfectly happy to set the book on fire and then extinguish it with my <deleted>.”
Indeed, this is the way I feel after every book that we publish is released. The process is agonizing, to the point that I struggle to see merit in what we’ve spent hundreds or thousands of hours on.
I’m sure in the coming months that I’ll come to love the book again and feel the same excitement when we launched into the translation project years ago. It’s a natural cycle, and perhaps I should learn to just smile and nod.
For those of you who ordered your standard or deluxe copy of “To Make as Perfectly as Possible,” your book is going into the mail stream starting this week. John Hoffman and his kids will be packing up the books and sending them out as fast as they can.
When you open your package, I think you will agree with me that it was worth the wait.
One important note: We have suspended sales of the deluxe edition for now. We are very close to selling out the 600 copies that we printed. And until we get everyone who ordered a copy their book, we are not taking any new orders. We suspect we will have a few more to sell at the end.
There is no waiting list. Sorry. If you want a copy, you will have to wait for us to count the remaining books and announce how many are available. No exceptions, please.
We are still selling copies of the standard edition for $43. It’s quite nice. You can order one here.
— Christopher Schwarz