Media

Mainstream press have been very supportive of the Quakebook project, helping to bring the story of the 2:46 Quakebook Book to the attention of many around the world. (See below).

Are you a reporter or journalist looking for a story? Please help to make the QuakeBook a success by writing about this collaborative, international project. For more information please contact Our Man in Abiko (Japan) or Dan Ryan (North America).

 

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NEWS RELEASE – JUNE 14th, 2011
[Download .PDF]

Tokyo, Japan — The Amazon-bestselling ebook 2:46: Aftershocks: Stories from the Japan Earthquake, which has raised tens of thousands of dollars for Japan’s earthquake and tsunami victims and is known on Twitter as “#quakebook”, is now available in an English-language paperback edition and a bilingual print edition.

The English and Japanese bilingual version, available in Japanese bookstores and via Amazon.co.jp, is priced at ¥1,400 and includes a new foreword by Japanese scientist Kenichiro Mogi. Tokyo publisher Goken Co., Ltd. is donating all profits to the Japanese Red Cross Society.

The English-language paperback edition, available via Amazon.com, is priced at $11.99 and publisher Amazon is donating to the Red Cross the entire purchase price of the first 3,600 copies sold, after which it will donate all profits, deducting only print costs. The book will also be available soon via Amazon.de and Amazon.co.uk.

The ebook edition of 2:46: Aftershocks: Stories from the Japan Earthquake has raised over US$30,000 to date, and to coincide with the release of the print editions, is now free through Amazon.com, with downloaders encouraged to donate to the Red Cross earthquake and tsunami victims fund.

“We were absolutely thrilled to see the book become an Amazon bestselling digital download, but a bilingual print edition opens the door to millions more potential readers,” says the editor and creator of #quakebook, a Briton who lives in the Tokyo area and blogs under the pseudonym ‘Our Man in Abiko’. “We’re trying to do the same thing by making the ebook a free download: reach more readers and spread more awareness of the continuing effects of the earthquake and tsunami.”

Several days after the earthquake and tsunami, Our Man put out a call on his blog and via Twitter for art, essays and photographs that reflected first-person accounts of the disaster to be edited into a book with all the revenues going to the Japanese Red Cross Society. Within 15 hours, he had received 74 eyewitness submissions from all over Japan, as well as reactions from elsewhere in Asia, Europe and North America. In just over a week, the book had been edited, designed and laid out by a team of contributors from all over the world, most of whom had never met in person.

In addition to narratives by journalists and people who braved the disaster, 2:46: Aftershocks: Stories from the Japan Earthquake contains writing created specifically for the book by authors William Gibson and Barry Eisler as well as artist and musician Yoko Ono.

“Goken is proud to be a part of the #quakebook project and involved in the publication of the book 2:46: Aftershocks: Stories from the Japan Earthquake, says Tamio Okumura, editor-in-chief of Goken. “When I read the Kindle e-book edition I was overwhelmed. I hope that by publishing a print edition, we will allow the book’s message to reach even more readers in Japan and around the world.”

For more information about 2:46: Aftershocks: Stories from the Japan Earthquake, please visit the website , Facebook page and Twitter account .

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NEWS RELEASE
April 1, 2011

TWITTER-SOURCED “#QUAKEBOOK” CREATED IN ONE WEEK
FOR JAPANESE EARTHQUAKE, TSUNAMI RELIEF

Tokyo, Japan — In just over a week, a group of professional and citizen journalists collaborated via Twitter to create a book to raise money for Japanese Red Cross earthquake and tsunami relief efforts. The book will be available for download via Amazon’s Kindle and Sony’s Reader ebook platforms within several days. One hundred percent of revenues will go to the Japanese Red Cross Society.

The 98-page book, titled 2:46: Aftershocks: Stories from the Japan Earthquake and known on Twitter as “#quakebook”, is the brainchild of a Briton who lives in the Tokyo area and blogs under the pseudonym “Our Man in Abiko”.

The day after the earthquake and tsunami, Our Man in Abiko wrote on his blog, ”Is there anything you can do? Right now, I’m not sure. But I’ll think of something.”

A few days later, he did think of something. The former journalist put out a call on his blog and via Twitter for art, essays and photographs that reflected first-person accounts of the disaster. He decided he would edit them into a book and donate all the revenues to the Japanese Red Cross Society. Within 15 hours, he had received 74 eyewitness submissions from all over Japan, as well as reactions from elsewhere in Asia, Europe and North America.

In addition to narratives by journalists and people who braved the disaster, 2:46: Aftershocks: Stories from the Japan Earthquake contains writing created specifically for the book by authors William Gibson, Jake Adelstein, and Barry Eisler, as well as a piece by artist and musician Yoko Ono.

“The primary goal,” Our Man in Abiko says, “is to raise awareness, and in doing so raise money for the Japanese Red Cross Society to help the thousands of homeless, hungry and cold survivors of the earthquake and tsunami. The biggest frustration for many of us was being unable to help these victims. I don’t have any medical skills, and I’m not a helicopter pilot, but I can edit. I’m doing what I can do.”

With the book completed, the project team turned again to social media. In a matter of days, they created a website http://www.quakebook.org, Facebook page http://www.facebook.com/Quakebook and Twitter account (@quakebook). The project quickly got attention from Twitter users like Yoko Ono as well as tech, publishing, and Japan-centric blogs.

“Twitter has been an amazing collaboration tool,” says Our Man in Abiko. “A few tweets pulled together nearly everything – all the participants, all the expertise – and in just over a week we had created a book including stories from an 80-year-old grandfather in Sendai, a couple in Canada waiting to hear if their relatives were okay, and a Japanese family who left their home, telling their young son they might never be able to return.

Soon we were working with the world’s biggest ebook distributors and fielding calls from newspapers and television stations on five continents. People around the world are responding to the message of #quakebook [and] I really feel we are on the brink of something amazing.”

For further details, please contact Roberto De Vido (Japan) or Dan Ryan (North America) at the email links shown above.

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Selection of global Media Coverage to date:

(If you find #QuakeBook media coverage, please do let us know. Thanks).

March 30th – April 2nd

Livro reúne relatos de quem viveu ou acompanhou tragédia no Japão
Quakebook VIDEO on CNN with core Quakebook team members – @RobertodeVido, @yukoandhercats and @shogannai
The Times of India
เคว้กบุ๊ก”สื่อแห่งน้ำใจและเยียวยาจากชาวออนไลน์สู่ผู้ประสบภัยญี่ปุ่น
Yahoo! News: Through ‘Quakebook,’ social media documents Japan disaster
Honduras: Quakebook: El muro de ayuda para Japon
Japon : les témoignages du web publiés dans un livre
El desastre en Japón desata innovación en redes sociales
“Het is gemaakt door een Brit in Japan, die via de #quakebook mensen opriep om verhalen in te sturen over de ramp.”
Promotion from Bydgoszcz, Poland Powstał internetowy ‘Quakebook’ związany z trzęsieniem ziemi
Diario de Yucatan, Mexico menciona Quakebook
Vietnam + – Các mạng xã hội lên ngôi sau thảm họa ở Nhật Bản
Twitter представи книга за бедствието в Япония
Ian Martin, contributor to Quakebook who works for The Japan Times, is originally from Bristol. Journalist’s book tells stories of earthquake
France24: Un “tweet” et un livre pour venir en aide des victimes du séisme et du tsunami
NPR: Social Media Innovation for Japan
Online Focus.de: Buch von Twitter-Autoren zur Japan-Katastrophe

Ouest France: Japon – des internautes se réunissent pour créer un ouvrage sur le séisme


Kansas City Star: Japan Disaster Sparks Social Media Innovation
The Mark News: Bloggers in Japan launch ‘Quakebook’
Quakebook editor, Dan Ryan, speaks to IndieReader.
Quakebook (and our own Kevin Caroll) gets a mention in a Time report on TEPCO
Imagine Peace Yoko Ono promotes Quakebook

March 29th

Bloggers create Japan Quakebook


Singapore Straits Times
The DragonFly Effect
Huffington Post refers readers of its book site to the WSJ article
Twitter sourced book for Japan/

‘Quakebook’: Bloggers Respond With Twitter-Sourced Charity Book
Japan Times – The Zeit Geist: From raw emotion to relief:’Quakebook’

March 28th

BBC – Quakebook – a triumph of good will and social media
(many thanks to @ruskin147)
CNNGo – Japan earthquake aid book crowd-sourced in just seven days

March 27th

MajiroxNews – 2:46 Quakebook
CNN iReport by @shoototkyo

2:46 Quakebook

March 26th

Quite extraordinary. Yoko Ono has tweeted about Quakebook

You can’t get better than this! Twitter has tweeted about Quakebook. Without Twitter, it would have been far harder to bring together this type of collaborative book project.

Good and bad in Japan – Quakebook – Quakebook is good!
A piece by Jared Keller at The Atlantic. Buzz in the blogsphere for Quakebook is getting off to a very prestigious start.
Publishing Perspectives

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