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Question about Book Signings

B

BruceWayne

New Member
Hi everyone, I'm new here, so I'm hoping you could help. I'm interested in attending a book signing, but I've never been to one before, so I'm kind of nervous about it. Is there a book signing "etiquette" or anything? I don't have the current work of the author who will be at the event, but can I bring an old work of hers and ask her to sign that?

And also would it be alright if I asked her to take a picture, or is that out of the question.

Thanks in advance everyone! :)
 
It may depend on how big a name the author in question is!

99% of authors seem pretty easy going when before their public; they are unlikely to deliberately snub a request for a photo or an autograph in an older work. However, it is probably good manners to buy the new book at the event for her to sign (it will be on sale in large quantities there, trust me on this).

That said, I broke this rule myself when at a Louis De Bernieres reading/book signing. His book looked and sounded phenomenal, but in hardback so was the price, and so I thought, 'wait for the paperback!' I'm sure he didn't need my money anyway...

p.s. have a good question ready for the author! I always forget to plan in advance and end up asking something really dumb...
 
It depends on the place and the person... I've been to two at Barnes & Noble... For Tom Clancy, he was only signing his newest release and for Brian Greene, he was signing both his new release and his previous book.

Your best bet is asking someone that works at the place the event will be held at. Before the author came out, an employee spoke with the audience, "Please form a line, have your books ready, yadda yadda yadda."

Have fun!

I agree with GreenKnight... it'd be nice to have a good question ready! Or a nice intellectual comment! :)
 
I've been to quite a few signings and I've never known an author refuse to sign an older book - and even, on occasion, books by other people. (Albeit with some connection: Zadie Smith for example was happy to sign a copy of Through the Looking Glass to which she'd written an introduction.) It makes a change for them, and if it's an older or out-of-print edition, gives them something to talk to you about.
 
Sometimes the book store that hosts the book signing requires that you purchase the current book at that book store, and they make you show a cash register receipt before you can get in line. If the book signing advertisement does not state any requirements, usually the authors are happy to sign any of their books. (Some avid fans will bring stacks of books.) If there are lots of people waiting in line, they may limit each person to just one book. Some popular authors sign so many books that they have to ice their hand down every night on the book tour.

If your friends or relatives really like this author, an inscribed book makes a wonderful gift. It shows that you really put some thought and effort into finding the right gift for them. (It would be helpful if you would print the friend's name out legibly on a piece of paper, just to save time and prevent mistakes.)

From a book collecting viewpoint, the first book the author wrote is probably going to be the most valuable in the future, and it might be worth your while to find a very good condition first edition that you can get signed by the author, and then carefully preserve it. It might be worth big money someday.

Usually the author will give a short speech and then take questions. This is your chance to ask about that running joke that you just can't figure out, or lobby for more books about your favorite characters.

I really enjoy finally getting to meet my favorite authors, learning a little bit about their lives, and chatting with the other people waiting in line.
 
I went to a book signing at a Star Wars convention and talked to Timothy Zahn. He was really nice and shook my hand. I didn't have any of his books handy, although I'd read a few, so I had to go to a vendor and buy a used copy of Heir to the Force. He didn't care. He signed it anyway. And he let me take a picture with him.
 
The last book signing I was at was after the guest's speech on the podium at high school. They had all three of his books available for purchase and my dad bought them all. The author was nice enough to autograph each one of them for me so I'd assume that most authors will sign older works too.

I remember when I was a little kid that the illustrator for those Magic School Bus books came to our school. I got the one about being lost in outer space signed and still have it. Actually it is the only one I still have and I can't remember what happened to the others that I owned in my youth....
 
hey everyone thanks so much for the advice! I really appreciate it, its helped to tone down my nervousness I guess. I'm looking forward to the event, but I'll call the book store just to make sure everything is going as planned and to ask about their book / signing policy. Thanks again! :)
 
one point i'd make.. listen to as many of the other people as you can, and try to make sure your question or comment is different... i remember meeting CJ Cherryh at a booksigning event, she looked so bored behind her polite smile and glazed eyes as she talked to fan upon fan about her books... when it was my turn, and it wasn't planned, i just couldn't think of anything once i was in front of her.. i asked how she liked Australia, in particular my fair city of Sydney.. her eyes changed, and we talked for a short while about anything but her books!
 
I've been to 3 book signings and unless the author is someone like J.K.Rowling or something(which is unlikely), the author usually doesn't mind taking pictures and talking to fans. and yep, it's fine to bring the old work of an author. The store will probably have a gazzillion copies of their new work if you wanna buy that in addition, but it's fine if you don't.

i hope you have fun at the even! It's quite awesome to meet an author you admire.
 
At the Neil Gaiman signing, there were like, a million people there... so they said that Neil won't be posing for pictures with you and the best thing to do is when you're the next in line, to hand your camera over to an employee and they'll take a pic of you with Gaiman while he's signing or whatever... I just had a friend wait on the other end and take several pics of me with Gaiman... they turned out great.

The reason why they wouldn't stop to take pics is because of all the different types of cameras and wasting time by trying to figure out how to work each one and making sure if it took the picture or not (with those delayed flashes on digital cameras for example)... blah. It made sense and things went by quickly.

But of course, it would've been great if it were a more posed picture.
 
I've been to a few of these and the opinions given thus far are pretty dead on. Buy the book that the author(and his publisher) are hawking; don't be overly praising of the book, but keep it tempered and perhaps ask about a criticism leveled by others if you can find one. I've had some great discussions one on one with authors of works that I really see as forward thinking.
 
Hopefully it'll be a good experience. I just hope there won't be that many people there. But in any case I'm still quite excited. Thanks for the input!
 
Oh Whoops, I'll be seeing Monica Ali. I just saw a flyer while waiting in line. I was amazed when I saw the flyer, because I said to myself a few weeks ago, it'd be cool if I got to meet her. So hopefully I'll meet her soon at the event :)

A site would be cool, I don't know if there are any for book signings.
 
If your local newspapers have literary sections, you can (usually) find book signings listed there as well. Most signings will be advertised at least 1 week in advance.
 
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