My BOOkish Blog Hop: "Do You Have Any Signed Books?"

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!)

I have! I am proud to say that every book in this picture is a signed copy, acquired directly from the author, or brought to an event for them to sign! It’s a wonderful thing to have a personalized message from the author inside a book, or the look on their face when you proudly place their book on the table and say, “I bought this and I would love for you to sign it!” It’s one of my favorite parts of being a book blogger, even though I normally get the ebooks first because it’s easiest for the author to send them to me--this shelf represents either the authors whom I enjoyed so much, I wanted to have a physical copy of their book so that I could flip to my favorite pages and pore over the story at my leisure, or ones that opted to send their books to me for only the cost of shipping, which I was more than willing to pay! It’s a wonderful thing.
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!

Brandy Potter www.brandypotterbooks.com

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!