The Encyclopedia of Surfing Online

When surfer, writer, and once editor of SURFER Magazine, Matt Warshaw wrote the Encyclopedia of Surfing in 2003, the internet was nowhere near what it is today so publishing it in book form made total sense – and that’s what he did. Jump almost ten years later to today and the physical book is becoming obsolete. The internet is huge and it’s become very easy for almost anyone to create and read all sorts of content online. Instead of letting the Encyclopedia of Surfing become just another dust collector on someone’s bookshelf, Matt has set out to totally digitize EOS and make it available on the web. With the help of the rest of the internet the project is in full swing and I was able to ask Matt some questions about the whole thing.

Tell us a little about yourself.
51 years old, SoCal born and bred, surfing since age 9, former editor of SURFER Magazine, happy husband, toddler-whipped father.

What’s the history behind the Encyclopedia of Surfing?
Wrote the book in a 10-day coke-fueled frenzy in 2003, sitting naked on the roof of my San Francisco apartment, drinking decaf green tea. I wish. Making the book was actually a long boring grind-it-out three-year effort. A total slog, mostly. Which is true for just about all things worth doing. Going digital is a no-brainer. Reference books are dead. All that stuff has to be online now. So that’s what I’m doing.

What are some of the biggest issues you’ve encountered while creating the online version of EOS?
Had to get the digital rights back from Harcourt, my publisher. Took a while, but they were very gracious about it. Had to get a lot of A-plus photographers and filmmakers to give me their stuff to use for free. If those guys didn’t play along, the thing was dead in the water. But again, pretty much everybody I got in touch with, from Bruce Browne to Art Brewer to Taylor Steele to Jeff Divine, they were all stoked to be involved.

What role do you see EOS playing in the surf community?
The site has two main parts. All the A-through-Z stuff, which is the same as the book but with photos and clips. So you can look up pretty much anything you want. That part will be closed off. The second part is me vaporing on about what’s happening in surfing right now. Plus guest bloggers. This will be open for comments, which I hope will be put to good use by the usual gang of surf-blog write-in frothers.

How often will the website be updated?
Daily.

What’s the reaction been like regarding the project?
Everybody loves the idea. Everybody. What’s not to love? But loving it isn’t the same as kicking down a few bucks. It’s been really interesting, this past week, when the project went mildly viral, so see who was contributing and who wasn’t.

How much has a website like Kickstarter contributed to your idea of digitizing EOS?
Kickstarter had nothing to do with me planing to go online, but yeah it’s perfect for this kind of thing. Without Kickstarter, I probably would have just borrowed a lot of money from my dad and my brother and then felt quietly bad about it for a few years for not paying them back.

The project has really blew up on Kickstarter since it launched last week. Did you expect such a huge response so quickly?
Yeah, on Thursday it just took off. We got a lot of really nice press online, and Kickstarter makes it really easy to give. I’m loving the roots aspect of it. The third person who dropped some money into the hat, about an hour after I launched, was some random guy from Australia, he kicked in a buck. One dollar. Fantastic. I’ll be looking for industry support pretty soon, but I think people get that this isn’t a surf-corpo project. I would have been incredibly stoked to get 20,000 one-dollar donations.

I see you locked up encyclopediaofsurfing.com. Good move! How long have you had it?
Locked that thing down years ago. Probably 2005. I knew eventually I’d get around to doing this. Getting a name was super easy, and I think it cost 15 bucks a year to hold.

Can you tell me something about EOS that you haven’t told anyone else yet?
When Bud Browne was in bed, near the end of his life, he would ask Buzzy Trent’s daughter Anna to read him entries out loud from the book. Greatest honor in my life as a writer.

When can we expect the launch of EOS?
Shooting for mid-2012.

A huge thanks to Matt for taking the time to answer my questions. Be sure to head over to Kickstarter and contribute to the Encyclopedia of Surfing, if you can.

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