Ask MetaFilter questions tagged with booksigning

Calling all friends of London bookshops and similar.

Scram — Mon, 02 Oct 2006 12:47:03 -0800

Author seeks London venue for Neutral Milk Hotel reading in November. Can you help? I wrote a book for Continuum's 33 1/3 series of little books about great albums, on Neutral Milk Hotel's "In the Aeroplane Over The Sea" and the Elephant 6 collaborative community that helped birth it.

I'll be in London on November 7, and hope to find a venue where I could read from and sign the book. And schedule permitting, John Perry will join me and read from his 33 1/3 on Jimi Hendrix.

Unfortunately, Continuum's UK publicist has just left her post, so I'm left with very little time to find a venue, and via email at that. I'm open to any sort of space, gallery, book or record shop, cafe, church, pub, etc. Any suggestions much appreciated... and if you manage to book a reading, I'll send you a bunch of copies of my zine, Scram, and stand you a pint if you attend. Thanks in advance for any ideas.

Signed books: why do authors cross their name out?

Ritchie — Sun, 25 Jun 2006 18:52:16 -0800

Why do some authors cross out their own printed name when they sign their books? I have many author-signed books, and I've noticed with a lot of them the author has struck a line through his or her own name printed on the title page before signing underneath.

Does anyone know why? Is this as common a practice as my experience leads me to believe?

Is it obnoxious to offer my (published) writing to an author at a book signing?

cybercoitus interruptus — Wed, 25 Jan 2006 14:25:07 -0800

Is it obnoxious to offer my (published) writing to an author at a book signing? I want advice on how to make her aware of my article while maintaining good fan etiquette. She's not a superstar, but is well respected in her area. The article involves original research on a pop-culture topic that is dear to her heart (I know this from comments she has made in her previous writing), is 12 photocopied pages and written with little academic jargon. I'm a graduate student so I haven't got real academic credentials to help persuade her (she's a former academic in a different field) that my writing is worth her precious time.

I'm thinking that I'll praise the book she's promoting (I'll do my best not to gush, and yes, I've read it), ask an intelligent question about it, ask her to sign my copy, and mention that I've had this article recently published. Then hope she expresses concrete interest (asks me for the article, or asks me to send her email about it). If she does, I'll offer her the photocopy that'll be waiting in my bag (is this dumb? would most book-touring authors consider this intrusive?). If she doesn't, I'm thinking I'll email her after her book tour is over and offer to mail her a copy. If she doesn't respond to that, of course I'll swallow my disappointment and won't pester her further.