Gadget Lets Authors Sign Books From Afar

Although talking to the author in person would be nice, I wouldn't expect an author to spend half the year travelling around, signing books to placate fans.

I'd be just as happy to know that the comment and signature on my book was just a long-distance transcription of the author's own hand-movements. Better yet if we could chat via video-link (iChat?), or some similar technology, while she is "signing".

I am not at all interested in authors' signatures on my books -- as a matter of fact, I could never understand the hours people spent standing in lines to get an autoghraph... so to me it is no loss at all. I find it fascinating however, that such a device has been invented by Margaret Atwood herself, as she is one of my favourite writers ever.

unotchit? You no touch it? Margaret Atwood named a company with caveman grammar? I've lost all hope.

I love to have my books signed by the author, has to me it's nice to know that the author has held the copy that you own.

But this signing method to me loses that personality to me, it might as well be a stamp!

Rich

The problem with is, is that without actually being there to see the person sign it, you have no clue whether it's just a computer program running that signs your book, or if the actual person is doing it. I can see some authors just being lazy and letting the program run. I think this would make a book signing alot of less personal, and alot less valuable. I think half the reason people go is to actually see the author, and let them know personally how much their enjoed (or did not enjoy) their book.

If "writer's cramp" from signing so many books is a problem, I don't see how signing them long-distance will be any better. Sounds like the virtual signing line will be even longer than the real ones, and the real ones are long enough to make any author cranky about half way through. I've actually started to avoid the book signing lines at author events for just that reason.

I'd actually prefer to see and talk to the author (even by videophone, if she really can't travel), whether a book is signed or not.

Technology can be a wonderful thing, but don't you think that we're going a bit too far in eliminating face-to-face human interactions?

Signing books is dumb anyway.

Am I the only person who feels that if they didn't personally sign the book, it's not truly autographed? I dunno, I sort of think of this as a lesser sort of forgery. You could get the same result by having someone study the signature and duplicate it. Having a machine do it isn't a whole lot better.

A couple of years ago durign the release of our Joy of Tech book, Nitrozac and I developed a system using iChat that let us do what we call Virtual Book signings. O'Reilly didn't have the budget to send us on a book tour, so we appeared at several venues virtually.

These virtual book signings were a ton of fun, for both us and the signees, and the face-to-face real-time human interaction was fab.

You can read about it here.