You Want Me to Sign Your What ...?

by Marcia Talley

Since my first book signing event in 1999, I’ve been asked to autograph any number of things. The books I was there to promote, of course, but also conference programs, book bags, t-shirts, blank books with “Autographs” embossed in gold on the cover, notebook pages, Starbucks napkins, a copy of Dead Midnight by Marcia Muller, even the plaster cast encasing one fan’s broken leg.  I’d rather be signing books they’d actually purchased, of course, but, hey, at least they showed up for the event, right, and haven’t mistaken me for the staffer who knows where the restroom is, or where the Harry Potter books are shelved. 

When authors gather around the bar at conferences these days, the topic of booksignings often comes up.  From their heyday in the 1980s – this fan girl once took the train from Washington, DC to New York City’s late, lamented Murder Ink to meet Dick Francis and purchase a personally inscribed copy of Proof – attendance at book signings seems to be down. Way down.  Fewer authors are being toured by their publishers, and the ten-day, ten-city whistle-stop U.S. tour is being cut to five cities within a hundred mile radius of the author’s home.

For those of us who are still touring, either on our own or at publisher expense, we often ask, is it worth it? Margaret Atwood didn’t think so. In 2006 she wrote, “You don't have to be in the same room as someone to have a meaningful exchange. As I was whizzing around the United States on yet another demented book tour, getting up at four in the morning to catch planes, doing two cities a day, eating the Pringle food object out of the mini-bar at night as I crawled around on the hotel room floor, too tired even to phone room service, I thought, 'There must be a better way of doing this.'"

And so at that year’s London Bookfair, Ms Atwood introduced LongPen, her famous remote control autograph-signing device. Fans still showed up at the bookstore to buy their copies of Oryk and Crake, but she appeared via two-way video from her home--dressed in what appears to be a pair of fleecy blue pajamas--and produced a personalized inscription for the book buyer by writing on an electronic screen. In a distant mall, in real time, the robotic pen replicated the message on the title page of the fan's propped-up book.

While LongPen has valuable government, banking and legal applications, the device failed to catch on in the retail book world.  I suspect this is because the company failed to anticipate the meteoric rise of eBooks. 

Not so Open Road Media.  At Bouchercon in St Louis last fall, Open Road partnered with Autography, an eBook autographing service, and author Jonathon King who was there to sign free eBook copies of his Edgar Award winning novel, The Blue Edge of Midnight.  Using an iPad app and a stylus, Jonathon wrote a personal note on the iPad and then signed it.  When I “bought” a copy of the ebook, it arrived on my iPad with his inscription embedded. 

Predictably, the folks at Amazon are on top of this technology, too.  Check out KindleGraph where a fan can request a personalized digital inscription from an author for a specific book. The request gets sent to the author via Twitter and the fan receives a PDF file with the book cover image, the message, and the signature sent directly to his Kindle or his email account. With Kindlegraph, though, there’s nothing to prove that the author, not a bot or their fiften-year-old niece, is actually doing the signing, nor anything to prevent people requesting Kindlegraphs for books they don’t actually own — something which might discourage busy authors from taking part.

Nevertheless, a number of Big Name authors are already participating, and Indie authors, who often have neither the time nor the funds to tour, appear to be well-represented among the 3500 currently registered. 

If you’re a card-carrying member of the I Hate Amazon Club, however, internet guru Brett Kelly has an alternative for you.  As reported in Cult of Mac, Brett used the following kit to procure an author’s scrawl:

• An iPad with the Kindle app or iBooks installed
• The author’s eBook downloaded to the app
• Skitch (a free app) installed on your iPad 
• The author physically present, ideally of his or her own free will.

Thus equipped, Brett opened the eBook to the title page, snapped a screenshot using the easy home-button-plus-power-button shortcut, opened the result in Skitch and had the author sign his iPad using a stylus, although signing with a finger might do just as well.

For me, though, there are aspects of meeting a fan face-to-face that an eBook event will never replicate. I appreciate the opportunity to meet (and thank) the people who enable me to keep doing the job I love. For readers, too, I suspect that the opportunity to interact with their favorite authors and complain about holes in the plot or admonish them for killing off a favorite character, is, well, priceless.

Over to you, Femmes, authors and readers … how do you feel about real vs. virtual book signings?  Are you ready for a brave new world where nobody has to leave the comfort of the chair in front of their computers to have a book signed?

 

Comments

[Shel F.]

Well, I saw the title of this and thought, "Oh, no, she DIDN'T"...and whew, I was right, LOL.
I love meeting authors face to face, and I also love getting autographs. Marcia, I'm the one who made you sign my netbook a few years back. However, ebooks, unless you're like me and a gadget junkie and make your gadgets do weird things, like accept pen input, do make getting autographs difficult. I have a Nook now, and unfortunately it doesn't accept pen input, so I guess I'm back to buying paper copies to go on my shelf and remain pristine, while I read the ebook copy on the Nook. Not such a bad solution - it's an extra sale for the author, and at venues where you must buy a book to get a ticket for the autograph line, I'm taken care of.

[Mario in DC]

The "mana" of a signed book lies in the fact that the author actually handled it; and, if it's a book you own, that you had at least that one, however brief, interaction with her. A virtually signed book? Especially a virtually signed e-book? From me, that gets a resounding "Meh".

Now, the *interaction* could be virtual; I have an ARC personally inscribed and sent me by one of my favourite authors, whom I have never met in person, and believe you me you'll have to pry that out of my very cold very dead hands before I give it up.

[Marcia Talley]

Mario, I suppose we could *fondle* readers' Kindles! LOL.

[Marcia Talley]

Shel, I'll sign whatever you put in front of me ... except maybe a check. ;-) Good to see you here!!

[Hank Phillippi Ryan]

Okay, that sounds like a GREAT idea! And "Skitch" is a perfect name. Not sure I quite understand ti--but at one point I felt that way about Twitter, too.. :-)

(ANd that's what I thought, too, Shel!)

[Deborah Crombie]

Marcia, you are the gadget queen! If someone comes up with a practical way for me to sign e-books, I'll do it. But I must admit I don't see the appeal. I'm a reader, not a collector, and I won't go out of my way to get signed copies unless I meet the author at a signing or the author is a close friend. I think the ideal solution is for readers to buy two copies--one signed hardcover, one e-book:-)

[Mar]

I don't have a kindle,nook, Ipad etc, but do download books to my phone for reading while DH is sleeping or at Doc's office etc, while it would be nice to see the authors signature when I open the "book", to me it's not a "real" book.

I do admit, it is nice to have books on my phone, convenience at times is great.

But.......most of the books I have on my phone, I also own "real" copies of the book.

I would much rather meet the author in person, get to talk to them and have my real book signed, after all, short of someone stealing my book or a major catastrophe, I will own my books always.

I dont see the intrigue to have an e-book signed.

You haven't met the author, listened to his/her talk about their book(s)and stood waiting book(s) in hand to have your book(s) signed.....

You can't go on and on to your friends about how lucky you were to meet one of your fave authors and get your book(s) signed

I guess one could set one's electronic device on the coffee table to show friends.....

OOPS - blank screen; sorry folks, battery just went dead, will have to show you signature later :) LOL

While e-books are convenient at times, I don't ever want to see the day where I can't get a book in print if I want it, to lovingly hold it and sadly turn that last page knowing it's the end of story :(

I have only met 2 authors, one I went to school with and haven,t seen since, due to FB I have reconnected; he is a retired Detective and just had his first book published, congrats Chad!

This year I got a chance to meet my online friend and awesome author Debs Crombie.....

What a fun day, DH and I went to her talk, then took Debs to lunch and had we both had a wonderful time visiting with Debs. I had my 3 copies of Debs latest books signed.........I normally do not order 3 copies, but I had to have a UK copy (lucky me got a first edition),then I did get a USA copy (via mail) from a bookstore where Debs was doing a book signing.
Then when we were in Florida and saw Debs was only going to be 1-1/2 hrs away, I told DH that was what I wanted for our anniversary, so I had to run to B&N and get a copy of Deb's book so I could get it signed. I also called my friend at home who was watching house/mail etc for us and told her where my Brit copy was and had her express mail it to me, so I was able to have Debs sign that also, so I am the lucky owner of 3 signed copies of "No Mark Upon Her"

And, a very lucky, happy person....I got to meet a great, friend, writer, person!

I was very sad when we had to leave,could have spent hours chatting away with Debs.

DH, who is not a reader, and who I thought would fall asleep during Debs talk, actually enjoyed her talk and asked me a question about something she said when we were on our way home, was shocked, he was actually listening :-)

Never thought I would hear him say, "that was really fun to anything book related"

Usually he is just saying, how many more boxes of books can you put in there, or is that a box of books that came UPS; don't you have at least 200 books you havent read yet LOL

Sooooo, after all my rambling, I would much rather meet author in person and have my "real" book(s) signed

Soooo, to all the author's out there, "keep doing your book signings, there are still a lot of us who want to meet you, hear your talks about writing, your characters, how you come up with ideas, titles, etc. !!!

Happy Writing and Happy Reading
Mar

[Ray Flynt]

This has NOTHING to do with your informative post, but my favorite "book signing" story involved the person who picked up my book, gave it the once-over, read the back cover, opened and started to read Chapter One. I was convinced I had a sale. Then he put the book down and announced, "Looks interesting. I think I'll wait for the movie to come out." :-)

[Marcia Talley]

Mar, you are the kind of reader we authors love -- coming out to our events and buying our books! Keep up the good work. We wouldn't be ANYWHERE without you!

[Marcia Talley]

Oh, Ray, I'm ROTFL. Don't we ALL wish for a movie deal in our future, and fantasize over who will play our protagonist. I see George Clooney as your Brad Frame, BTW. Just sayin'

[Marcia Talley]

Debs, I'm with you on the plan for readers to buy two copies--one signed hardcover, one e-book! I read somewhere that independents such as Powells were thinking about "bundling" books that way. I vote YES!

[Elaine Viets]

What does the iAutograph look like, Marcia? Do you have a proper author scrawl? Or is it like those so-called electronically signed things for credit cards.
Personally, I love a real signed book, touched by an actual author.

[Dana]

Marcia, how cool is this?! Thanks so much for sharing.

I like signatures, real-book, electronic, or otherwise. One of the low-tech solutions I've seen to the e-reader was to have writers at a convention sign the cloth cover as a keepsake!

[Deb Romano]

I always seem to find out about author signings AFTER they have taken place. I would LOVE to hear/see my favorite authors, buy their books and have the books signed.

One time I was out for a Sunday drive and discovered that I was near an independent bookstore. I am incapable of driving past a bookstore (or maybe it's that I brake for bookstores :-), so I stopped in. After I had been browsing for a while, an employee approached me and asked if I was the author who was supposed to be there that day, who had apparently called to say she would be late because she was lost. I never did find out how long it was before the author arrived and I have no idea who it was!

Give me real books that have been signed by the real people who wrote them! And let me have enough advance knowledge of the event so I can show up!

[Marcia Talley]

Elaine, the image of my book cover that I posted was signed electronically using a stylus on my iPad. I tried using my finger to sign, but the result looked like it'd been done by a 102-year-old with a nervous disorder!

[Liz Gray]

WOW!! What a busy woman and writer you are!! And reading all the comments about technology. I don't even have a Kindle yet...I laughed about the "fondling each other's Kindles" above. Five years ago, you would have gotten a funny look on that sentence! Clearly writing is a task only for the most adept multi-taskers. It's a bit intimidating for us newbies. I would love to read your books. Also, I'm old school..love face to face meetings w/authors and the feel of the page beneath my fingers, complete with toilet paper bookmark sometimes. I enjoyed this literary journey!

[Marcia Talley]

Liz, I'll personally sign a book for you any day! And give you a bookmark a little fancier than t.p. :-)