May 04, 2006

To Whom it May Concern. Dear Whom...

catdork.jpg

I got together with Pat and Erika of Little Type last night. It turns out they sold out their stock of King Dorks and had to re-order, so we had a little book autographing party at Spats to inscribe the new books.

I'm never sure what to sign on books. If it's face to face I usually just ask what they want it to say.

"Whatever you want," is the typical response. Which is very, very helpful.

"For instance," I'll continue, "if your name is Mary, I might write 'to Mary.' Does that sound okay?" We can usually take it from there and it works out all right.

Obviously, sitting in Spats last night I had no idea whether or not something like "to Mary" was going to be appropriate for any given book, and I didn't just want to guess. So we had fun coming up with goofy stuff that I could write over the signature instead of "to Mary." "We know of no other beer that costs as much to brew and age," was one. Some catch-phrases from the book, like "WAGBOG" and "Living Room Rock!" "Way to go!" was one of my favorites, for some reason.

Anyhow, people seem to like the Little Type long-distance signed book service so I guess we're going to try to keep it up as a regular thing. And at this point, it is, like, exclusive. So if you are interested in a signed copy of King Dork and don't think you're going to bump into me any time soon, Little Type is where to go.

If you already have a book and still want it signed, we could do it through the mail. I've had quite a few requests for this, and I'm happy to do it. But I know my own limitations, and I think the best strategy for making sure this happens in a timely fashion would be to make it as easy as possible for me to do it. Because I am pretty disorganized and often let things pile up and going to the post office is one of those things I tend to put off. So... if you enclose an addressed mailer with correct postage, that would probably work out better than just sending your book and money.

Glenn Reynolds has a system of signed bookplates for his book: he signs the bookplate sticker, mails it out, and the other party in the transaction affixes it to the book, which is less cumbersome and cheaper to mail obviously, but perhaps lacking the personal touch for some. Mary? What say you?

Until I get me a Margaret Atwood remote autograph machine, though, these are the options. Mary, please, email me if any of them sound appealing.

Posted by Dr. Frank at May 4, 2006 04:50 PM | TrackBack
Comments

Can anyone definitively prove that it's Margaret Atwood, and not her robotic autograph machine writing the books themselves?

Posted by: Dave Bug at May 5, 2006 04:04 AM

mary would say that book label thing shows a flagrant disregard for readers and also probably does not count as a 'signed book' avoid! avoid!

Posted by: drunk unkle at May 5, 2006 04:19 AM

margaret atwood is a robot, she's just now started her campaign to take over the world. she will beget t-800. get ready for the machines!!!

Posted by: kendra at May 5, 2006 06:55 AM

what's the address I mail my back to?

Posted by: Jim Testa at May 5, 2006 05:26 PM

Frank - when is your best guesstimate at getting back to NY?

Posted by: Bill at May 5, 2006 06:10 PM

I remember you signed Dr.Frank is Dead on the Love is Dead cover in Oslo, Norway 2001. I absolutely love it, and to this day it's my nr.1 all time favourite album cover.

I just got your book in the mail, and (so far) I'm loving every page off it.

I've understood you've got a lot off attention in the US, and I sincerely hope you get the breakthrough you've always deserved.

Keep on keepin' on!

Posted by: Are at May 6, 2006 03:31 AM

Hug your cat for me. I just lost one of my two beautiful black cats very suddenly last Sunday and now the other isn't doing so well.

Posted by: Little Willow at May 8, 2006 12:32 AM