Wicked Local reports: Fans of “The Hunger Games” are invited to a very special event with Suzanne Collins, author of “The Hunger Games” trilogy, on Aug. 31 from 6-7:30 p.m. at the Wellesley Free Library, 530 Washington St. in Wellesley, MA.
Because Collins is hoping to meet as many readers as possible, and because of an existing hand strain, the event will begin promptly at 6 p.m. with a very brief reading and then move to a unique “book-stamping” in celebration of the release of the final book in the trilogy, “Mockingjay.” The stamp will be used throughout her fall 2010 tour. There will be no actual signing at this event. In order to meet as many readers as possible, Collins will stamp a maximum of one book per customer and will not be able to personalize any books. Photographs are allowed, but in the interest of time, attendees may not individually “pose” with Collins.
What do you think of authors as celebrities? Is it a good thing?
authors as celebrities
Authors as celebrities is nothing new. Charles Dickens and Oscar Wilde were celebrities.
Is the concern with Suzanne Collins the fact that she is not allowing pictures to keep the line going? Once an author hits a certain level of celebrity it is difficult for them to have substantial personal contact with everyone at a book signing.
If she had been thinking out of the box she could have made the experience at the book stamping a little more personalized by having a stamp just for that event. Incorporate into the stamp the location that the event took place.
I guess it depends on how many signings she does
one unique stamp per signing is cool, unless these things are scheduled on such short notice that making a new stamp in impractical.
I still have a special stamp from many many many years ago when I thought I would become a famous author… but I used it for other stuff… like when I thought I’d become a famous painter… oh, sad stamp, symbol of my many failures…
Famous Authors
Neil Gaiman is a much more famous author, and he manages to somehow budget his time to allow people to get a personalized signature and get pictures with him. Now, Ms. Collins is reported to have hand strain, so that excuses the stamp, but still, there are clearly ways to manage crowds and time to make sure that people get more of an experience than a robot could provide.
simple enough
And people who consider that experience inadequate can just stay home.
I will never understand the people who think that buying a book (or a movie ticket) entitles them to anything besides that work. The author is still a human being, not the product.
Entitlement
I don’t think that simply buying the book entitles you to anything more than the book. But attending an authors signing should probably entitle you to the author, I don’t know… signing? I’ve never been to an author signing that didn’t include some personalization available and the author at least being personable.
The day J.K. Rowling visited
I was in line with thousands of other people, including a great many children, when Rowling visited Toronto. The event was at our sports arena, to allow as many fans to attend as possible. One 11 year old boy in front of me asked his mother “Did they do this for Tolkien too, Mum? Were there as many people here for him too?” And she had to explain that no, there had been nothing like this event for Tolkien.
If being a celebrity means that many more people will buy Collin’s very good books, I’m all for it. Shame about the lack of signature though. My stamped Lemony Snicket book just isn’t quite the same as my other signed books.