A picture may be worth a thousand words... but an autograph from the author is priceless. A personal note? Exponentially more so. At least, to an avid reader. Authors are our pop culture celebrities, our icons, the VIPs of the literary industry. To get a signed copy of a book, one does not merely waltz into the local bookshop and pick up any copy of the requisite book. Signed copies are usually priced higher, and stores carry fewer, which means that if one most definitely wants to be sure of a signed copy, one must either muster the courage to contact the author directly, or make every effort to attend the elusive Book Signing Event--whether or not it's local.
So... Would you like to know how many of us have "taken the plunge," so to speak?
Leslie Conzatti (Me!)
In order (L to R): Books 1-5 of The Chronicles of Lorrek, plus two tie-in anthologies by Kelly Blanchard; You're Never Weird on The Internet (Almost) by Felicia Day (my sole celebrity autograph!); The Starlight Proverbs by Darren E. Barber (alas! The only one in what would have been a series, except that the vanity press he used went bankrupt...); Books 1-4 of The Fair Folk Chronicles by Jeffrey Cook and Katherine Perkins; The Portal Prophecies (Books 1-3) by C. A. King; Skeins Unfurled by K. M. Vanderbilt (another fantastic series forced to end too soon...); Fire's Song and Spirit's Lullaby by J. E. Mueller; The PSS Chronicles by Ripley Patton; The Girl and The Clockwork Cat by Nikki McCormack; Devotion and Deception by Katika Schneider; Grave Beginnings and Grave Measures by R. R. Virdi; and Sound and Fury: Shakespeare Goes Punk and What We've Unlearned: Classic Literature Goes Punk by the Writerpunk Press Group (signed by Jeffrey Cook)
Kim
Jacque www.writersideoflife.com
I only have two signed books but they
are so precious! Here in New Zealand, we don’t get that many
international bestseller authors come to visit. The first one was my
copy of An Echo in the Bone which was signed by Diana Gabaldon at a
reading in 2009. I have loved the Outlander series of historical
fiction since I was a teenager.
The other one is a copy of Stories of
Your Life and Others which Ted Chiang signed earlier this year at a
panel discussion on time travel. One of his short stories, The Story
of Your Life was made into the movie Arrival. It is a first contact
story about a linguist who is sent to communicate with the alien race
and, through deciphering their language, discovers something about
herself and her family. A technically brilliant short story for any
linguistics nerd!
I have three. All of them are
treasured. I have signed copies of The Collector and The Liar by Nora
Roberts, who I met. (The picture) when I got them signed. What a
great day that was. I made a total ass out of myself too. I have
NEVER been tongue-tied with a celebrity before, but I couldn’t
hardly talk. I also have a signed copy of This is Gonna Hurt by Nikki
Sixx. I was not able to met him though. I had just started a new job
and I couldn’t take off that day. My best friend (pronounced
sister) Liz went and stood in line and got the autograph for me. She
was on her way to a Rammstein show after and Nikki talked to her
about the band. When he went to sign, she said, “Oh it’s not for
me it’s for my sister Brandy.”
“Where’s
Brandy?” he said.
“They
wouldn’t let her take off work,” she laughed.
He answered, “Tell her she needs a
new job.”
It was one of my favorite Lizzy moments
and since she has passed, it makes that signature MUCH more
precious than any other autographs I have.
Casia
Schreyer www.casiaschreyer.wordpress.com
Oh boy. You asked for it this time.
Because I work with a lot of local and indie author groups I have a
ton of signed books.
Traitor’s Hope by Virginia McClain
Tibilet by Crystal Dueck
Plamen Oren by Christina Prince (this
was a limited run college project, I don’t even know if it’s
still available for sale anywhere)
Rae of Hope, Discreet Betrayal, and
Finding Gloria by Marianne Curtis
Planet Song by TK Boomer
Warp World by Joshua Simpson and
Kristen Perron (I only have Kristen’s signature on it)
Charleswood Road & Other Stories by
M.C. Joudry
The Dragon’s Tooth by Holly Geely
Red Stone and Broken Stone by Gabriel
Goldstone
Sempiternal - The 9th Legion by S.
Goshea
Asylum by Chantelle JZ Storm
Pewter Angels by Henry Ripplinger
Calliope and the Sea Monster, Wendigo
Whispers, and The Call of the White Moose by Alex McGilvery
I
still have to get my copy of Scion of the Fox by S. Beiko and Sons of
Earth by Geralyn Wichers signed.
Laura
Morningstar http://lauramorningstar.com
Years
ago I used to have loads of signed books, these had usually been
given to me either by the authors, or I’d taken them to be signed.
In 2010 I had a house fire and my collection bar two or three books
was destroyed. I clung to the remaining books while I mourned the
loss of the rest of my collection. At that time it probably neared
30-40 books. In recent years my pile of signed books has once
again started to grow, mainly because I am lucky enough to know some
wonderfully amazing authors. My signed book collection covers both
nonfiction and fiction and a wide range of subjects. My favourite way
to get a book signed though is to go and actually speak to the author
at an event. It’s a wonderful thing to be able to tell someone in
person how much their words mean to you.
How about you? Do you invest in signed copies of your favorite books? Tell us BRAG about them in the comments! And don't forget you can head back to the >Introductory Post< for any questions you may have missed!
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