Booksignings can be bothersome for authors who really have better things to do than travel long distances just to meet fans and autograph books. (Write the next novel, for instance?) And now it seems, there is a way round the problem, thanks to Margaret Atwoods new invention: the LongPen. Now authors can talk to fans across the world via videoconferencing facilities, and scribble a personal message in real time, without leaving the comfort of their own homes.Yes, I thought it was a joke too when I first read about the idea some months ago. But then Atwood set out to demonstrate her new toy by signing copies in a New York bookshop while she was physically at the London Book Fair.
But things didn't go according to plan, writes Oliver Burkeman in the Guardian:
Find out what went wrong!In novels such as Oryx and Crake and the Handmaid's Tale, Ms Atwood has demonstrated that she has few equals when it comes to imagining the transformative powers of technology on humanity. But turning science fiction into fact was proving tricky yesterday, thanks to the even more powerful force of sod's law.
6 comments:
i can never understand why people go loony over writers ..i would have tought that book readers aren't like fans of rock stars....i'd much prefer writers who are like j d salinger who hates to meet everybody...and i'd hate to meet writers that i admire because i know no matter how perfect the writing is the real person is bound to dissapoint you in some ways...and if i ever meet that bastard salman rushdie...despite my great love for his writings what i feel like doing is to kick him in the face...
sharon i'm meeting aneeta on monday to discuss legal issues pertaining to publishing. may i see you too? i'll pass my stuff to you. can ya?
greenbottle - i'm a litgroupie ... and now that i've met some writers i really
admire in the flesh, none have disappointed ... in fact they've been far nice and more down to earth than I would have expected ... and one or two i am in love with now more than ever!
ms d - for sure, just name place and time
Of course they are.. it's good marketing to be nice. They may be thinking "Ew.." but of course they smile and say "How nice !" because they're smart and have good PR skills.
Anyway, the point of having a signed copy is the have the author physically touch the book, and draw his/her hand over it. There's a magic in that, the same hand that wrote the book, wrote _on_ the book. That's the point.
sharon, bangsar village starbucks 10am. monday! u seeing bergen too?
okay ms d.
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