I gave a copy of The Shifter to a friend of mine for her birthday. She's a huge reader and was dying to have her very own ARC (advanced reader copy), so I was happy to give her one. But then she asked me to sign it.
Um...sign it?
I've never had anyone ask me to sign anything that wasn't a yearbook or a legal document. I had no clue what to write. What's worse, my family lovingly teases me that with my handwriting, I should have been a doctor, so my signature isn't even very pretty.
I stared at her like a deer in headlights, my mind blank as the page, and then we laughed about it. In the end I wrote, "To my friend, Amy, happy birthday" but it did start me thinking.
I'm going to run into this again at some point.
I have several events scheduled around when The Shifter comes out in October. As exciting as they are, the odds of someone wanting me to sign a book are high enough to worry about it. I'm going to have to practice my signature so they don't feel like a two year old scribbled in their book. I'm going to need a signing pen with a signature color or puffy troll eraser or something fun. I'm going to have to come up with a catchy line if they don't have something specific they'd like me to write. I'm going to have to be clever.
No one warns you about this part of being a writer. There should really be a memo.
I definitely agree with the idea of practicing. Get yourself some nice pens of different kinds, and a number of test phrases etc. and see what works for you. Maybe even observe others or talk to people who go get things signed to see what they like to see, and maybe that'll give you a hand as well.
ReplyDeleteThanks! I planned on going to a few signings in the area to get a feel for what they do, and hopefully chat with a few authors about it.
ReplyDeleteJanice -- I like the idea of cute pens, colored ink, and deciding ahead of time on some catchy phrases to write. But: your signature is your signature -- no matter how illegible -- it's you. so my suggestion is: print the line, and then sign with your every-day, real, 2-year-old-scribble signature.
ReplyDeleteHmm I've never really thought about that before. Haha that must have been a weird feeling though..someone asking for your autograph! I agree with Catherine - practicing will definitely help. You could also chat with other authors and hear about the type of things they write, too.
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