Monday, February 21, 2011

Signing book plates

We had a package waiting for us at the post office last Friday -- an innocuous-looking box that we thought contained a book or something.

But no - it was a box of papers. What kind of papers?


It seems they're book plates for the Simplicity book -- five hundred of them perforated into quarters, for a total of 2000 book plates.


Book plates, I've just learned, are signed by an author and affixed to the title page of a book. (It's apparently a whole lot cheaper to ship 500 sheets of book plates than it is to ship 2000 books for the author to sign.)


So my task over the next few days is to sign my name a staggering 2000 times. It's funny - I've signed my name a zillion times without giving it a second thought. But suddenly I'm fearful of messing up. -- misspelling or getting sloppy or whatever.


But sign I will - 2000 times! (Sorry, I can't get over the sheer quantity...)


Just another fascinating aspect of what's involved in getting a book published.

6 comments:

  1. Exciting!!

    It's also cheaper than shipping the AUTHOR to the BOOKS. See here where Patrick Rothfuss was brought to his books to sign a few:

    http://blog.patrickrothfuss.com/2011/02/signed-copies-of-the-wise-mans-fear-part-ii/

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  2. Please be sure to sign one thusly: "To Anonymous Patriot, my biggest fan. Patrice Lewis"

    Eerily similar to Kathy Bates' character in "Misery". Don't worry, I haven't got a pet pig.

    Thank you!

    Anonymous Patriot
    USA

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  3. Am I seeing a fellow Lefty? That explains your intelligence :-). Good luck with the signatures. Jennifer

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  4. 2000!!! I can just imagine .. cramp , cramp, cramp!

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  5. I'd be sooooo tempted to sign one "Help, I'm being held prisoner and forced to sign book plates!"

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  6. "Having" to sign 2000 bookplates because you published a book... I am nothing but jealous. I cannot say congratulations enough.

    Jeff - Tucson

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