Announcing the 2012 Edition of The Rude Pundit's Almanack:
(Update: Bumped up to the top for your weekend sales pitch.)

You know the cool thing about e-books and print-on-demand books? You can change things up. So unlike, say, just about every other book about the current state of politics, which become history as quickly as they're put out, The Rude Pundit's Almanack will kick your ass with new, never-blogged material.

You wanna read the story of the Herman Cain campaign told in dirty limericks?

You wanna read alternate stories of the upcoming presidential campaign (depending on Newt or Romney winning the nomination)?

You wanna play "Who Wants to be a GOP Running Mate?"

Then you want the 2012 Rude Pundit's Almanack.

Oh, but there's a catch, Yossarian. Yes, there's always a catch.

See, OR Books, they're a bunch of crafty bastards over there, with their attempt to come up with new ways to publish things that people will actually pay to read.

They said, "You know, the first edition sold for shit compared with, say, James Patterson. We don't think people want to buy any book from someone they can read every day for free. Milk, meet Cow."

The Rude Pundit responded, "Fuck you, editors. I've given the readers over 8 years, over 2 million words of free shit. They'll buy the book. We just have to sell it right."

And OR Books said, "Prove it, bitch," and pretty much held a gun to the head of The Rude Pundit's Almanack. "Set this little bastard free."

And the Rude Pundit said, "Okay, motherfuckers. Let's dance."

So here's the deal: OR Books will release the 2012 edition of The Rude Pundit's Almanack if, and only if, there's at least 500 pre-sales.

500. That's it. And it can be in cheap e-book form ($10) or less cheap softcover book form ($17).

We don't get to 500, OR Books wins. They will pull the trigger. And the book will bleed e-ink.

Now, you may be asking, "These fucking guys, what'll they do with my money if we don't make 500?" And the answer is that there's honor among editors (hard to believe, but still). They'll refund your money. In full. No bullshit.

You may also ask, "So can I get it for my annoying uncle for Christmas?" The answer is that you can get the 2011 edition any time you want. But the 2012 edition won't be out until, well, shit, 2012. Like closer to spring. If you do order it for a Christmas (or Hanukkah or what the fuck ever) gift, OR Books has said they'll send a nice e-card (huzzah!).

Frankly, the Rude Pundit's excited about this. It's a challenge, a goal, a throwdown. Can we do it? Will those new pieces ever see the light of day?

Oh, and let's advertise this a bit better:
Emmy-award winning Daily Show writer Jo Miller says that The Rude Pundit's Almanack is "a joy — deeply intelligent, pants-wettingly funny and impossible to put down."

The 2012 edition may actually make you shit yourself. In a good way.