I always promised myself I wouldn’t become the kind of blogger who puts up a post to say sorry for not blogging, but here we are. I haven’t been this off my game since I took an intentional hiatus in May 2011 in order to work on a site redesign. In retrospect, temporarily ditching the blog while working on a big project is a great idea.

The big project in question is, of course, the book you’ve been hearing so much about: Build Your Anime Blog. I’m thrilled to say that as of today, there’s nothing left to do but push it live, so it will meet that May 1 deadline I promised last month. The final product is more than 50,000 words, more than TWICE the length of Otaku Journalism, but it’ll retail for the same price my first book did.

If you can’t spare $5.99 for the book, read the next few paragraphs carefully to see how you can get it for free. I’ve been thinking a lot about the Big Picture, and I can’t remember the last time I’ve had as much fun blogging here as when I’m getting back to my roots and practicing actual reporting. I love investigating questions that I (and hopefully my readers) have, like where American anime wall scrolls came from and how blind fans watch anime. I love reporting on topics like how Anime Boston navigates religion and fandom on Easter so much that I think of my yearly visit as a vacation, not as volunteering.

I’d like to do more journalism here at Otaku Journalist, and I’d like your help. Leave a topic for me to report on in the comments—it can be as simple as a question that you’re interested in me researching—and if I decide to take it on, I’ll send you a free copy of Build Your Anime Blog. I’m not sure how many ideas I’ll want, so theoretically everyone who comments could be a winner.

So much of what I do here depends on your feedback—even my decision to write a 50k word book. I’m really excited to see what you’re interested in having me report on.

Illustration by Kevin Bolk