Bookplates or Signed Books?

I buzzed by Borders tonight to pick up Emma Holly's newest release, Kissing Midnight and see what else was hitting the shelves for June. I don't buy many Baen hardcovers as a general rule (they've fallen apart on me too many times) but I spotted a copy of Longeye, the sequel to Sharon Lee and Steve Miller's Duainfey, which I had already bought as a gift for a friend, and picked that up to add to the gift. I knew going in that I had to wait until the 30th for Darkness Calls, the sequel to Marjorie M. Liu's The Iron Hunt, but that I have on preorder. From there it was just casual browsing.

I caught a glimpse of a zombie version of a classic literary novel, spun around and walked the other way. I've heard a lot about it, but the cover art is beyond repulsive, and the shock value or whatever didn't work on me. I ended up in the lit/mainstream aisle, and spotted a popular author's new title, which had an autographed sticker on the cover and a nice bookmark sticking out of it. Since I don't often have the chance to get signed copies of anything, I grabbed two copies (one for me and one for LB&LI) and headed for the register. Only when I got home did I discover that the books weren't actually signed, but had a signed bookplate glued to the inside cover.

This bothered me, as I don't care for signed bookplates. I made up a batch once for an indy bookseller who requested them, but that left me feeling like I'd cheated, and I never did them again. I don't know why I don't like them, either. They're certainly a practical alternative to doing the real thing. Authors, especially popular ones, can't be expected to hold signings all over the country. Most can't travel overseas to sign books for non-U.S. readers.

To me a signed book, even if it's flat-signed, has some value, not just as a collectible but as a memento. If you attend signings, you get to meet the author in person, and that's usually an event a reader likes to remember. Even if the author is like me and doesn't do signings but instead mails out signed books, there's still a degree of personal connection there. The author held the book to sign it before sending it off.

The bookplate is signed, too, but that happened when it was probably in a stack of blanks that the author signed, one right after another, then mailed off to a bookstore where one of the staff glued it to the inside of the new stock. It just doesn't seem as personal to me.

Maybe I'm being too picky, though. What do you guys think? Are bookplates okay with you, or do you prefer to have the author sign the book itself?

The Joy of Signing

Signing books for your readers is one of those nice perks of being published. Over the years I've observed most authors doing it pretty much the same way; a little message addressed to the reader by their first name, scribbled on the title page, and signed at the bottom. Like so:

To Jane:

Enjoy the story, and hope that nasty skin condition clears up soon!

Best Wishes,
Ima Writer

I was so clueless when I turned pro that I thought you had to ask the publisher's permission to sign your own books (because otherwise you're defacing their property, or at least that's how I'd worked it out in my head.) I bet the editor is still laughing over that e-mail.

Some writers are great signers. Their handwriting is gorgeous, and/or they write personal notes that are as wonderful to read as their stories. A few of the artistic authors out there like Poppy Z. Brite and Stuart MacBride sometimes draw sketches in their books, which makes them instant, one-of-a-kind treasures.

Some serious book collectors prefer name-only autographed books, or what Stephen King called flatsigned editions. This is when the author signs just their name directly on a page, usually the title page. I rarely flatsign books because it seems a little impersonal to me, but there are web sites out there now like this one where you can buy them.

What most interests me is what an author puts above their signature as a sign-off phrase. "Best Wishes" is the most common, and I still use that myself. I try to use different sign-offs for each pseudonym, i.e. Blessings, Rebecca Kelly and Best Wishes, S.L. Viehl. When I branched out into vampire fiction, I wanted something different that tied into the series, which is when I came up with Always, Lynn Viehl as a sign-off.

Readers, who are some of your favorite signers, and writers, how are you going to sign your books? Let us know in comments.