Darlene Quinn has crossed the county doing book signings, meet & greets, and many stock signings. What is it that brings your readers out to buy a signed copy of “Webs of Power”?
Since the early 19th century, the desire for an author’s autographed books began and increases yearly. In today’s book market, we have a wealth of knowledgeable authors whose signatures are valuable on their own, but when placed inside their latest book, it adds an emotional value to your admiring reader.
There is no question that for resale, a book is more valuable if it is simply signed, with no personalization. Collectors desire only the author’s signature, and perhaps there is a greater incentive to purchase a second-hand book without a stranger’s name on it. However, as I stated earlier, what may have brought the reader out in the first place was the emotional desire to have a signed copy for their collection. What greater boost to your readers is there, than to have one of their favorite authors acknowledge them by inscribing their name in a book for their bookshelf?
As a collector of autographed books myself, I have never attended a book signing with the intention of reselling the book. As an avid reader, certain books hold dear memories and have touched my soul enough that I want it always to reread, to share, and to pass on to my daughter. Someday, hopefully, she will read the same wonderful words and find them as inspiring as I did. The fact that the author signed the copy and acknowledge me, one of their millions of readers, gives the book additional value. I hope that my daughter will add her own autographed copies to the collection and pass them on to her children.
Will autographed books begin to decline with our new book market where thousands of books are being printed as Kindle books, or eBooks downloaded to new technology and ever changing technology? Perhaps in a few generations from now they won’t know the feel of a real book in their hands, or the smell of the print, or the sound of cracking the binding of a beloved book. But those of us that have collected books, and met their creators, we will fill that void for future generations as we pass on our personalized author signed books into caring hands of future collectors.
When Darlene Quinn signed Webs of Power with an inscription to me, it became part of my collection, not only because I am her assistant, but because her words took me back to a time of history I lived through, and Darlene gave me the ability to feel and live the ambiance again through her memorable characters. Part of my life history was laid out in Webs of Power - this is what brings a reader out for signatures – the fact that an author touched, or created a memory, in words, on paper, signed, always there on your shelf to relive again, is a heady emotion.
~Kathy Porter