Book Signing Etiquette

I was talking with a group of authors the other day and someone brought up the subject of signing books – what is the correct way to do it? Our Grand Pooh Bah (who has sold millions of Sci-Fi books and signed at least 10,000) said he always:

• Goes to the title page
• Crosses out his pen name
• Writes a short message
• and signs with his real name

Apparently that’s the way must writers do it, but it was news to me. Wouldn’t the reader be offended that the book had been defaced? What’s wrong with the pen name?

It seems that the consensus is that a book signing is a personal thing – a chance to meet and engage with the author. The ritual of changing the name is a way for the author to open up to their reader – real contact.

Personally, I’ve always found it strange scrawling “Gerald” instead of my natural signature. It just felt wrong.

So how would you feel about some guy dressed like Carl Sagan taking your brand new book, crossing out “Isaac Asimov” and writing … hmm, maybe that’s a bad example.