Sign here please… (said the Devil to the writer)

As a published writer it is expected that you sign copies of books. Expected, but I understand there are a few writers who don’t. Though I’m sure these writers will disagree with me, I personally believe that you should almost never decline to autograph a fan’s copy of your book - unless they are sending it to you through the post and it involves handing out your personal address.
I am writer who writes for himself, a selfish writer I suppose (but then I will never let myself be compromised by writing something I know is being done simply for profit). However, to enable me to write and hopefully write fulltime I must rely on the public to buy my books, and so I believe that once my book is written and published then any request that is made of me to make the book more personal to the reader i.e. a signature and a little message, is more than reasonable (unless the reader wishes me to sign it in my own blood – perhaps then I will decline).

At the Macmillan do last week, my fellow MNWers and I discussed the thin line between reasonable requests and exploitation. There are certain websites who have made advances to published authors for signed and dated copies of their books for them to sell on for more than a tidy profit. I know of a couple of websites who have already bought several signed copies from one of the more reputable London-based bookshops – of which I agreed to sign a hundred or so copies – and are now selling them for twice or three times the publishing price. Obviously I encourage my books to be sold, but I have to point out that if you bought a copy at a book-signing (plans of which are in the works) then I would sign it free of charge and you would only have to pay the cover price.
The writer never gets a cut of a book that is sold for say £50. We only get the usually royalties, so there is no added benefit for us, nor the publisher and definitely not the reader.
Now, I guess if in ten or twenty years time, someone sells a copy of The Secret War (first edition, signed and dated) for maybe a couple of hundred quid, I don’t think I’d have a problem with that because it would be out of print but hopefully repackaged etc. I think that would be acceptable.
But the fact is, The Secret War has only been out for a couple of weeks, and while a first edition is getting rarer all the time, I baulk at the idea of someone having to pay 2-3 times as much as they should. It is their business, but I feel it’s also exploitation - as does other writers who I spoke to that evening. When you are confronted by a dealer in that way, knowing what they will sell your book for later, you feel like the Devil is coming for your signature and that perhaps you are compelled to sign away your soul in the book. It would be different if the same dealers came to me and said “I’ll buy 100 copies of your book…” but just a dozen or so? Sorry, but no.
There are dealers out there who are selling sign editions for the same price as you would pay for the book in your local Waterstones. Like anything, searching the internet will bring up the right ones, so if you are tempted just do a little digging before buying.

As for signing…
Well, I stand by what I said at the beginning of this blog entry. If someone asked me to sign a copy of my book for them, maybe to include a little message etc. then who am I to refuse? After all, a personalised copy of a book brings writer and reader closer together, don’t you think?