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The Downside to Signed Books
Gee Stephen King did the Charlie Rose show and there were 150 signed books made available for purchase - the audience holds up to 900 people so most go away sad!
Then there is a booksigning in Connecticut and approx 220 books are signed and some people have ruffled feathers because the store moved up the time at which they sold entry tickets - many people travelled far and at a cost to go away empty handed - but that's another story.
My peeve is that many many of those fortunate enough to get signed books are there only for the profit - ebay is already proliferated with DT VII signed books! I found no less than 7 auctions with sellers bragging about getting signed books at the booksigning and said books are up for sale for as much as $1,000. One guy bragged about being in attendance with his family and is selling a couple of the books. Then there are the books obtained at the Charlie Rose show. One seller inparticular bragged about obtaining a handful of the 150 available books and has two up for auction right now. He is not the only one from the CR signed DT VII's for sale this morning on ebay! Tehre is even a guy that has 4 Whelan only signed books (signed on 9/20 according to the add) up for sale on ebay!
Tis a shame that there is no way to prevent this from happening other than to have all books personalized and not flat signed. Unfortunately, that takes much more time and Mr. King is reticent about doing so. That is his perogative and I have no problem with that!
We are a greedy species aren't we!
Then there is a booksigning in Connecticut and approx 220 books are signed and some people have ruffled feathers because the store moved up the time at which they sold entry tickets - many people travelled far and at a cost to go away empty handed - but that's another story.
My peeve is that many many of those fortunate enough to get signed books are there only for the profit - ebay is already proliferated with DT VII signed books! I found no less than 7 auctions with sellers bragging about getting signed books at the booksigning and said books are up for sale for as much as $1,000. One guy bragged about being in attendance with his family and is selling a couple of the books. Then there are the books obtained at the Charlie Rose show. One seller inparticular bragged about obtaining a handful of the 150 available books and has two up for auction right now. He is not the only one from the CR signed DT VII's for sale this morning on ebay! Tehre is even a guy that has 4 Whelan only signed books (signed on 9/20 according to the add) up for sale on ebay!
Tis a shame that there is no way to prevent this from happening other than to have all books personalized and not flat signed. Unfortunately, that takes much more time and Mr. King is reticent about doing so. That is his perogative and I have no problem with that!
We are a greedy species aren't we!
Comments
I have two signatures obtained at RBR performances, two at a booksigning at Betts, two that I mailed in to Mr. King years ago and the rest that I purchased either from CD Pubs, Borderlands Press, the Overlook Connection or Betts. I will say that the most I paid for a S/L is the $250 (I think that was the price) I paid CD Pubs From a Buick 8 S/L. The least I paid was $25 for On Writing at an RBR event - that was the book jacket price.
My most prised is my Six Stories that I paid the original asking price of $85! That book has appreciated in value tremendously. If I were to ever sell it that is and that ain't gonna happen any time soon. I think I would only sell any of my collection if I became desparate to feed and care for my family - my books are way more valuable to me as they sit on my bookshelves!
Also, I have never purchased a signed King book on ebay - I would if I knew the seller was Betts or Bad Moon Books or the few others that I know are 100% legitimate. I reserve my ebay purchases to things like audio books and older magazines that I am looking for to fill out my collection. I am even wary about purchaing older first editions on ebay unless I know the seller.
I think under those circumstances, I would stop flat-signing and stick to personalised messages if my timing permitted.
Just remember matey - Ka is a wheel and what has comes around, goes around
As far as personalizing goes, Kind would have if asked. I didn't know so I didn't ask, but I saw several that were personalized. The bookstore owner told us they would find out if he would do any personalizations and if so, they would give out slips of paper before you got to the signing table to put down what you wanted. This didn't happen so we figured he was just going to flat-sign and didn't ask for a personal message. I think King was just too nice to say No when people asked. I know he was just supposed to be signing DT VII, but a girl (one of the group mentioned above) asked him to sign her copy of Bag of Bones and he did. I had also heard them earlier teasing one of their group about how she could sign as well as King did. It may have been just a joke, but you can imagine what crossed my mind! We didn't associate much with them. They had set up a tent on the sidewalk Saturday night and a couple of them stayed while the rest went to the motel. They were the only ones we met that I felt were there for purely financial motives. I'm sure there were others but we didn't meet them.
I also heard that there were actually people stealing the books at the CR show. I'm sure if the "mob" had known this was happening there would've been a riot. We thought about trying to go to the show and the signing but were afraid we wouldn't be able to get a place in line. As it turned out, we could've done both but I have no regrets that we didn't. Some that did go said it was taped so I'm going to tape every Charlie Rose show until it is broadcast. I'm sure it will be eventually.