A New Book On Fastest Known Times

Volume, the British publishing bespoke platform is at it again. After their failed UTMB book “kickstarter” last year they are currently crowdfunding for a coffee table book all about FKTs:

Curated by veteran ultra-runner Buzz Burrell, this highly visual book is an aspirational and complete guide to FKT, bursting with stunning photography and details from specially commissioned mapping and infographics through to training tips from the athletes who’ve conquered the routes.

I just love everything about this, just like I did with the UTMB book. But I worry this campaign too will not reach its funding goal. Some simple napkin math shows that in the first 5 days they got 55 people to pledge (~11/day). Looking at what the average person pledged they need another 700+ people in the next 22 days (almost 3 times as many people per day as have signed up so far).

I do really love the idea of these coffee table books and think there’s a place in our sport to celebrate running stories in this way. I also don’t think the price for the book (from $55 – $125 depending on what version) is outrageous or misguided. Lots of high end coffee table books are in that price range. But maybe it’s the number of people needed to pledge before printing that’s the hindrance… or maybe the marketing around it fails to reach the right people. Either way, I love this, and said so now three times. Let’s get this published people!