ABBA blog

This page aims to collect all the relevant up-to-date information on my book ABBA – The Complete Recording Sessions 1972–1982. When I have new information to share, this page will be updated. Important updates will also be announced in my social media channels and in my newsletter.

SUMMARY OF THE MUST IMPORTANT POINTS

● You may order ABBA – The Complete Recording Sessions 1972–1982 on this website.

● Copies pre-ordered no later than 30 April 2026 will be signed by me. Out of respect to those who supported the project by pre-ordering up until that date, no further copies of this book will be signed.

● In late June 2026 I will sign the circa 1,000 copies that were ordered up until 30 April.

● The signed copies will start shipping (along with all other orders) circa 8 July.

● I am unable to tell you exactly what day your copy ships or when you will receive it, but I expect most of those who pre-ordered should be in possession of their copies before the end of July. You will receive shipping notification from my distributor, Stardist AB.

● As I am writing this (20 May 2026), I haven't decided whether there will be an ebook version of ABBA – The Complete Recording Sessions 1972–1982. If I go ahead with it, it will be a text-only version with no illustrations. Should I decide to publish an ebook version, it will be announced on this website, in my social media and in my newsletter (scroll down a bit to sign up). No decisions will be made until after the signing and shipping of the pre-order hardcover have been completed.

PROJECT BACKGROUND
ABBA – The Complete Recording Sessions 1972–1982 was first published in 1994. A revised and expanded edition was published in 2017.

The present volume is the third edition of the book (but also its second revised and expanded edition). It is likely to be the final edition of this book.

This third edition came into being as a result of the 2017 edition of the book selling out. People who missed out on that edition wrote me and asked for a reprint. Rather than just reprinting the book, I thought it would be better to further revise and expand it with all the new information I had gathered since 2017, incorporating it in the main text.

The number of pages has increased from 448 to 512, so that's a 14% increase. With all the updates and corrections taken into account, perhaps the total "update value" is somewhere around 20%.

WHAT ARE THE CONTENTS OF THIS BOOK?
More info on the contents are available on the main page about the book.

WHY IS THE BOOK SELF-PUBLISHED?
ABBA – The Complete Recording Sessions 1972–1982 is a "special interest" title. While it's not impossible that a publisher would be interested in publishing it, sales expectations would be relatively low. This in turn means that very little money would trickle through to the author, and so, it would be impossible for me to pay the rent while writing the book. However, by cutting out as many middlemen as possible, I can make it work. This is not a complaint towards any publishers I have worked with over the years – it's just the reality of the book business.

WHY IS THE BOOK SO EXPENSIVE?
The answer to this question is quite complex, but here's an attempt at a relatively brief explanation. A book like ABBA – The Complete Recording Sessions 1972–1982 will only have a limited readership. This has nothing to do with the quality of its contents, but is simply how things are: a certain kind of passion for the history of ABBA is required and – beyond reading a biography such as Bright Lights Dark Shadows – the overwhelming majority of ABBA fans does not have this passion. This means that it's not possible to sell many copies of a book like ABBA – The Complete Recording Sessions.

Yet, I need to stay afloat while I'm working on the book (researching, writing, dealing with printing and distribution issues). Furthermore, when you print a low number of books the price per copy becomes more expensive, and the shipping, which is included in the price, is also quite costly. To put it simply: My self-published books only exist because there are enough people who are interested in reading their contents and are prepared to invest in them becoming a reality. There is no realistic alternative scenario wherein these books can be written, published and distributed more cheaply.

WHERE CAN I ORDER ABBA – The Complete Recording Sessions 1972–1982?
The book is exclusively available from this website.