Welcome back and exciting news

Welcome back everyone! Well, actually you've probably all been around a lot more than I have, so I guess it's me who's back.

It's been a busy time for me personally (I got married on August 2nd!) and for the blog, as I've finally finished my proposed e-book season preview. It's something I've wanted to do for a couple of seasons but have finally managed to complete the project this year and, honestly, I'm delighted with how it turned out.

It's 64 pages of content (all penned by yours truly) featuring:
  • 100 individual player profiles and fantasy status (buy, sell, monitor etc)
  • 17 full team previews including assessment of 2012-13 data, transfer analysis and forecast lineups
  • Goalkeeper rotation data
  • Forecast data for the first eight gameweeks of the season
  • Brief analysis of every transfer, including fantasy status
  • A review of the model in 2012-13 and how it will be improved this season.
Now here's the awkward bit: there is a price tag. Aside from a couple of dollars in Google ads over the years, I've never made anything from this blog, and while it is a labour of love, it would be nice if I could at least get back the money I expect to spend when I move the site to a fixed site address, sometime later in the season. The book is published through LuLu and is available for CAD$5.99 (or your local equivalent). I figure this is less than what you'd pay for a high street magazine which may feature a couple of pages of fantasy "analysis" and then a handful of perfume ads so it seems like a fair price for everyone.

The book has been an incredible amount of work (including having my new wife help edit it between our wedding and our honeymoon - which starts on Friday) but it's been a lot of fun to make and I'm really proud of how it has turned out.

For those who are interested, the book is available at Lulu.

As for the coming season, normal, and full service service will resume in a couple of weeks after I return from our honeymoon (we're heading to S.Africa, Namibia, Botswana and Zambia in case anyone was wondering). We're due back on Sep 9th so I expect to have everything up and running for GW4. Until then, eight week forecast data and GK-rotation data can be found in the book.

As always, thanks for reading and sticking with the blog and here's to another great season.

PS. Now that the book is finished I'll be back on here and Twitter until Friday posting some general thoughts and hopefully my opening day lineup if I can make my mind up in time!

Comments

2ndMan said…
Welcome back Chris, congrats on the marriage. The book sounds a great idea, but is there a way you could publish a preview, just a page of one players profile or something like that so we can get a better idea of what to expect from it? Thanks
Martin S Ek said…
Welcome back! Looking forward to the new season very much.

I'll probably spend the money on your book just because. Thanks for the effort.
TheD said…
So glad to see you back. Have been keep checking this blog every day.

Can't wait to see your master piece of work..

Welcome and please don not leave us for that long next time ;)
TheD said…
P.S. Good luck on your marriage and all the best
Candidate said…
Welcome back Chris, and congratulations on your marriage!

Just bought it and looking forward to read it!

Have a great honey moon!
Gummi said…
Congratulations on the marriage.

Happy to see you back posting, was getting anxious that the best Fantasy blogger had given up on us.

Look forward to reading the book.
Unknown said…
Great to hear from you again, Chris. Congrats on the marriage. You've got a good one if she helped edit the ebook! I've always been a fan of the blog and will likely purchase the manuscript, but I'd also like to see a preview, if you could. Also, do you know if I can get a PDF of the document, as I don't have any device to read the ebook format. Thanks!
Zsolt said…
Congratulations for the wedding Chris. That is the most important we will survive until you come back.

The book looks an interesting idea, I will check how to pay, assumingly with PayPal. You sure deserve some money from it as your blog is amazing and original.

Do you have new league code for the new season to join? As I can see that is still the last year one on the blog
AU Tigers said…
I have used your blog for 3 seasons now, the least I can do is buy your book. Plus I'm sure it's going to be awesome! Win, win for me!

Have fun on the honeymoon
-Chris Beck
Zsolt said…
Just the confirmation after buying the book, yes possible to select PayPal.

And also that - yes Chris you probably worked a lot to create it.. Thanks for the cheap price it is really not more than any magazine on the street and worth much more.
Tim said…
Welcome back! And welcome to married life. Hopefully it doesn't hurt your blogging quality/quantity as we rely on your insight THAT much. :) Just kidding, about the blogging not about relying on your insight. All the best in matrimony, one of life's great blessings, just a bit more important than premier league fantasy. But not much. :) I got married myself less than a year ago. I'll gladly buy your book. It's the least I could do for you helping me to finish 3rd and 2nd in my league the past two years. First place beckons this year!
Tim said…
Just downloaded the e-book. Great, great stuff. LOVE the games started/benched chart for each team's defense. Immensely helpful to see how players were rotated/used. And the individual attacking players bios are spot on and more detailed than I expected. Now I will proceed to getting absolutely no work done today, so thanks! :)
Steven said…
Chris,

First off, congrads on the wedding. What an amazing honeymoon you guys have planned. To say I'm jealous (of the places you're going) would be an understatement!

That said, I bought the book and I have it printed out and on my desk at work. As Tim states, it's severely impacted my productivity today. All and all, I love it and I think you did the right thing by putting this together and charging for it. Small price to pay for some really hard work on your part.

My one point of contention is around bonus points. Would be nice if you could somehow (miraculously based on your current life schedule) talk about the new bonus system which is set to change and increase the value of "field general" CM types of players from what I gather. Also boosts the Bonus potential for goalies from what I can tell.

Thanks again Chris!
Josh said…
Just purchased and it looks great! Congrats on the wedding.
Zsolt said…
After a day in the book I like the most:
- the starting lineup table for each team, visually that is great idea to see which player is where and probably who can be his substitute, very good for having fast overview about the actual team situation if someone did not follow all the news in the past months
- detailed description about the current key players in each team
- also there is summary about the new arrivals marking their chance to be in the first team
- very consequent analyse and summary on team level
- for me the Definition and explanation table is very useful to come back to it time to time, for clear understanding of the statistical numbers and diagrams

I am very positive with this structure, really just congratulations
Dave said…
Welcome back Chris ! Congrats on getting married, I don't know how you do it, my wife is actually leaving me because she says I'm obsessed with Fantasy Football, but in my defense... I've got Ivanovic, Coleman and Dawson !

Anyway the book looks great, going to head over to Lulu to buy it now, Its the least I can do after getting so much from your brilliant blog.

best of luck !
Dave said…
Welcome back Chris ! Congrats on getting married, I don't know how you do it, my wife is actually leaving me because she says I'm obsessed with Fantasy Football, but in my defense... I've got Ivanovic, Coleman and Dawson !

Anyway the book looks great, going to head over to Lulu to buy it now, Its the least I can do after getting so much from your brilliant blog.

best of luck !
Unknown said…
After using this blog to help me win the league I am in the last two years, I bought the ebook without hesitation. Well worth the investment if you like to use date to help underline your decision making about a team. Great starting point for the news season.
nice post on Welcome back and exciting news
I also love the style of blogging here on http://premierleaguefantasy.blogspot.com/
you see, there are 2 blogs that i've found so far to be very helpful and have something interesting for me whenever i visit, this one and http://danieluyi.com
Keep up the good work you're doing here.
Unknown said…
Great read and we at Teamfill agree that predicting outcomes of football matches isn't easy but like you, we have tried to make it a little easier. I do like your risk factor, interesting analysis. With Teamfill it optimises your team based on either current form or your own adjustments for the GW ahead.

have a read, it describes it in a little more detail; http://teamfill.blogspot.co.uk/2013/10/fantasy-football-weekend-team.html?spref=tw&m=1

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