Ficlets

A few weeks ago my publicist at Tor Books called me up and asked me if I would be interested in flying to New York to sign some books in Anaheim. I remember thinking that would be an interesting trick, and then she explained herself. There was this new computerized remote signing hardware called LongPen, in which authors signed their signatures in one place, and a remote controlled pen replicated the signatures in another. In this case, where I was signing and where the books would be signed would be separated by 3,000 miles. This all seemed fairly science fictiony to me, so I said sure, I’d give it a try.

So I did it yesterday afternoon and I have to say it was a very interesting experience. I sat at a conference room table in the Flatiron Building, and looked at a computer screen where people in Anaheim could come up to a kiosk where the LongPen machine was. I could chat with the folks while I was signing their books, and personalize their books with notes and such; then I’d press the “send” button and we’d bother watch (them live in person and me through the screen I just signed on), as the robotic pen did its thing.

I have to say that I was a little concerned that people would think it was just an ersatz autographing experience, but most of the people there were saying things like “whoa, this is really cool” as the pen did its thing, so maybe this isn’t so much of an issue. Now, as additional data, the people getting their books signed were there for a technology convention anyway, so perhaps they were more inclined to be wowed by its whiz-bang-ness. The real acid test would be how real fans/book buyers reacted to such a remote signing. I think that would be interesting to try.

Now, how did I feel about it? Well, I had fun with it—it’s cool to fiddle with new technology and see how people respond to it, and I did my best on my end to be personable and chatty so that the folks whose books I was signing would feel like it was an overall positive experience. Now, given a choice between this and actually being where fans are, I’d prefer to be there live, personally; I think there’s value in being there, and I think people would prefer an author signing in their presence as opposed to via an Internet connection.

That said, I’m less skeptical about the LongPen’s utility than I was before I used it—folks seemed to respond to it well, and I think as long as the author makes it an interesting experience for fans (i.e., doesn’t let a computer connection give him or her an excuse to act merely like a book signing machine) it could be a useful substitute for when an author can’t or won’t get out on the road. It’s quite possibly the next best thing to being there.