Book signings are a wonderful way for readers to brush elbows with the authors they love, and for authors to get to know the people who have been enjoying their stories. You just wait in line until you reach the head of the table, whereupon the author picks up a pen, flips to the flyleaf, asks your name, jots down something witty, and then with a quick flourish swirls something that is probably illegible, but that you can assure your friends is a genuine
signature.
Oh, wait... you went and bought an iPad. Or was it a Sony? A nook, you say? Maybe it was a Kindle. There are just so many eBook readers these days, and each one can hold
thousands of eBooks.
How many signatures can those things hold, anyway? What sort of pen should the author use on your shiny new toy, and what will you do if someone accidentally gets ink on the screen?
Perhaps it is time for
MobileRead.com to show the way, by hosting an eBook Signing Event!
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"Wait a minute," I can hear some of you muttering, "how are you going to do
that? eBooks don't even have a flyleaf to sign, for crying out loud."
No, they usually don't, but they
could... and now they do. To demonstrate, I am signing copies of my first published
* SHORT STORY *:
The regular, non-signed edition of "We Don't Plummet Out of the Sky Anymore" is also still available at
Smashwords.com, but this version is a little different, because every single dedication will be hand-written, hand-signed, and uniquely numbered.
Why am I going to such lengths? To be blunt, I really do believe what I wrote about book signings being a special interaction between readers and writers. I want people to read my stories, and enjoy them, and hopefully also keep an eye out for my name in the future. As writers, it is important for us to invest a little time in that relationship, because it won't develop at all if we don't.
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Would you like to participate? All you need to do is send an e-mail to this address:
MDavidBlake <use a DOT> writer <use the AT symbol> vintageseason <use another DOT> com
... and be sure to include the following information, so that I can get your dedication right!
Subject: eBook Signing Event: We Don't Plummet Out of the Sky Anymore
Name: what you want the author to call you
E-mail: an address where the signed eBook should be sent
The *.epub and *.mobi files you receive will be DRM-free, and you are welcome to make copies for your friends, because if you enjoyed the story,
they might enjoy it too. You are expressly granted permission to share the specific *.epub and/or *.mobi file(s) you receive from the author, with two stipulations:
- the eBook (including your unique, hand-signed dedication) must remain in its complete original form, and
- any such sharing must be non-commercial (you may not accept cash, goods, services, or any tangible value in exchange for this work).
I will begin signing and sending eBooks tomorrow morning (10 July 2010) at 10am EST. I have dedicated time for signing each day until Wednesday (14 July 2010). After that, I will still continue to sign as requests trickle in, but dedications will then be handled as I find time in between my active writing projects.
— M.
... and for the benefit of our visitors, who couldn't see the images because they were not logged in: