Someone asked me a question about the
etiquette for book signings on Formspring and I think it's an awesome
topic to cover! I go to A LOT of book signings thanks to Not Your
Mother's Book Club, and I've sort of developed my own policies for
attending book signings over the last few months. Remember, these are
just my personal opinions based on my experiences; however, I did get
some input from Maggie who runs Not Your Mother's Book Club, so she
knows these things.
Do I have to buy the books at the
signing?
Every book store
has their own rules for book signings. One of my local indies,
Hicklebee's, requires that you buy at least one item at the signing
to help support the store, which I think it completely fair. Not Your
Mother's Book Club hosts almost all of the book signings that I go to
and they don't have any requirements for their signings. Cool right?
Sure, but what people don't realize is that “publishers expect the
store to sell the author's books” (straight from Maggie!!!) so if
you don't buy any books at the bookstore, and you get them all off
Amazon or at Barnes and Noble or something, then you're not
supporting the store or the event. By purchasing an author's books at
their signing you're helping to fund more events at that book store!
Publishers aren't going to send authors to stores where they're not
selling anything, especially when they have to pay to fly the authors
out there, put them in hotels, and pricey things like that! So just
do everyone a favor and at least buy one book! Even if you're just
going to give it to a friend or host a giveaway!
Another thing to
think about is what to do when you have the ARC of a book, or a
finished copy from the publisher. What I like to do in that situation
is just buy a finished copy at the store and either get it signed for
giveaway or send one to a friend in a different area. Nicole and I
swap signed books all the time, so I'm always buying something for
her, which helps support the store but then I don't end up with
several copies either.
What if I am going to a signing with
more than one author?
Ohhh I love the
NYMBC events because they ALWAYS have great panels, with several
authors :) I know that this situation can be kind of awkward,
especially if you've only read one of the author's books and you're
really just interested in seeing them. Honestly, I don't think it's
necessary to purchase all of the authors' books if you aren't
initially interested, but maybe after you hear the others talk about
their books you'll be interested in reading them! This happens with
my friends all the time, they get super excited about one author and
then they hear the others speak and get super excited about the other
books, which they then proceed to buy right away! If an author is
talking about their book and it just doesn't sound like something you
want to read, DO NOT feel pressured to buy it!! You in no way shape
or form HAVE to buy all of the authors' books.
The first NYMBC
event I went to was for Becca Fitzpatrick, Moira Young, Michelle
Hodkin, and Simone Elkeles. I bought a copy of Hush, Hush at Books
Inc, which I gave away on the blog, and while I thought about buying
something by Simone Elkeles, I just wasn't interested. I hadn't read
any of her books (and still haven't) and after hearing her speak I
still wasn't that interested in reading them, so I just didn't. I
don't think it's something to be embarrassed over, the authors have a
ton of fans as it is, and you shouldn't obligate yourself into being
one of them.
What if I want to get my e-reader
cover signed?
I see
this happen at a lot of signings, where people bring in the Kindle or
Nook cover to get signed, but they don't have any physical books.
Whether you bought the book through the bookstore's ebook store, or
you bought it via Amazon or Barnes and Noble, that sale doesn't go
towards the total EVENT sales. What does this mean? You're not
supporting the event! Remember, buying books via the bookstore having
the event helps support author events in general, because publishers
are going to be more willing to send those authors back the next time
around when their sales are good! So, the short and sweet of it is
that even if you bought the book for your Kindle or Nook, you should
buy a hard copy to get signed ALONG with your e-reader cover. You're
helping to support the store and the event and you're helping to
ensure that the author will come back!
I want to get A MILLION books
signed!
This is me at
like, every book event ever. I always tend to bring several copies of
the books (for friends, giveaways, etc.) so I'm that awkward person
with about six copies of one book, and five copies of another.
Depending on the authors at the event, the location, the date and
time and all that jazz, there might be A LOT of people wanting to get
their books signed too! The best way to deal with this in a polite
and respectable manner is to wait. Yes, you may be sitting in the
front row so you get to see the authors first, but if you have a
bunch of books to get signed you're going to hold up a lot of people
and that's just kind of rude. Like I said, you should be polite to
your other book worms and wait until the lines are thinner and people
are starting to clear out. Also, this is a great opportunity to
strike up a conversation with the people around you! Did you bring
business cards for your blog? Who knows, someone's agent or author
friend could be sitting right behind you! This is a great chance to
network and meet new people! So just sit back, chat with your
friends, and wait until the line is thinner to get your massive pile
signed.
OMG you are my favorite author I
want to chat with you for 10 minutes!!
This
should be self explanatory, but don't hold up the line. I get it, you
LOVE Tahereh Mafi so much that you want to tell her about every
little thing that you loved in Shatter Me. You want to tell her how
it changed your life and how you swooned over Adam for a week
straight. But please consider the people in line behind you! I can't
tell you how many book signings I've gone to where there's that ONE
PERSON who just needs to chat with all the authors for ten minutes
each and who completely holds up the line. Again, if you want to chat
with the authors wait until the line is a bit thinner! This is why I
always make it a point to sit around and chat when the signing line
first forms. This way I can spend a pretty good amount of time with
the authors without holding anyone up. I absolutely love fangirling
over my favorite authors, and taking pictures, and all that good
stuff, but it's important to remember that there are a lot of other
people there to support that author as well and you need to give
everyone a fair chance to meet them!
While most of
these tips come from my personal experience or Not Your Mother's Book
Club, it's always good to ask about policies at a certain book store
before going to their event. Some require you to buy tickets, some
require you to buy at least one item, and some don't have any
requirements at all, but it's always polite to check and see what
they prefer. Another thing that can make you look super professional
is to sticky note your books yourself. Write your name on a sticky
note and put it on the page you'd like the author to sign. That way
there are no misspellings and the people running the event won't have
to add sticky notes for you :)
What's been your
book signing experience? Do you attend a lot? What do you think is
consider inappropriate book signing behavior?
If you have any requests for future Discussion Posts let me know by filling out the form below! If I get enough, I'll try to do a discussion every Friday :)
