Wine writer Malcolm Gluck had the audacity to question whether Rushdie could possibly have signed as many books as he had claimed, or whether he had just scribbled his initials. According to Maev Kennedy in the Guardian :
Gluck's claimed record is 1,001 copies in 59 minutes, set at a wine warehouse in London in 1998. Gluck achieved this with the help of a team of three men, one fetching the copies, one opening them at the blank page, and another whisking the signed copies away.A crack team of bookstore staff is apparently essential to facilitate the process and Rushdie is apparently right up there in the company of President Jimmy Carter, the novelist Amy Tan as one of the world's fastest book-signers. (Although the article adds that thriller writer Ken Follett could be a serious contender. He signed 2,050 copies in three-and-a-half hours at a book fair in Madrid earlier this year, beating his own record of 1,600 last year at a fair in Italy.)
Rushdie said he had signed 1,000 copies, on his most recent tour promoting the Enchantress of Florence, in a books warehouse in Nashville in 57 minutes.
Btw, I really wish bookshops here would get authors to sign stocks of their books when they are in town! The only author who did this as far as I know was naughty Nirpal. Peter Carey was the biggest one (as far as I am concerned) who got away.
9 comments:
Was it Margaret Atwood who came up with that spoof device that allows authors to sign books from great distances, at great speed, etc? I can't really remember now, but I think I read about it on your blog in the first place. :)
yeah, the long pen. just think you will be able to sign your new book in malaysia without having to go through immigration.
Gluck's so well-named to be a wine-writer! Gluckgluckgluck! :-)
- Poppadumdum
and his first bbc series was called "gluck, gluck, gluck". i kid you not.
Ahahahaha! I was thinking I would have a reading ON the Causeway! ;)
Ah, I just wish there were that many people who wanted to buy one of my signed books!!
I remember Stephen King walked into a bookshop one day and signed a few of his books. They wanted to arrest him until they found out who he was. Makes you think, doesn't it ?
It's only writers that do that. Imagine if woodcarvers, sculptors or whatever signed their work :)
glenda larke;
do you have your books sold in malaysia?
where can i find them? what are the titles?
i'm sick of lit fics for now. probably a dose of fantasy novel will be good for me....
ah pong
Ah Pong, my first published books might be a bit hard to get now, but the last three should be available at most big bookstores that have a good sf/f section - I've seen them at MPH Midvalley, Kinokunya, The Curve etc. Published by Orbit UK: The Heart of the Mirage, Shadow of Tyr and Song of the Shiver Barrens. If you want to read reviews, then you can find some on my website: www.glendalarke.com
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