Book signing is the affixing of a signature to the title page or flyleaf of a book by its author. Book signings are events, usually at a bookstore or library, where an author sits and signs books for a period.
Book signing is the affixing of a signature to the title page or flyleaf of a book by its author. Book signings are events, usually at a bookstore or library, where an author sits and signs books for a period.
Book signing is popular because an author's signature increases the value of books for collectors. The author may add a short message to the reader, called a dedication, to each book, which may be personalized with the recipient's name upon request. A simple author's signature without a dedication is typically more valuable to collectors (exceptions include inscriptions to persons of note, e.g., from Hemingway to Fitzgerald, or to persons of significance in the author's life).[ citation needed ]
Sometimes an author will sign additional copies for future sale. An additional advantage to authors for doing this is that once a book has been signed, it cannot be returned to the publisher for a refund.[ citation needed ]
Many authors today spend a great deal of time signing their books, and sign many thousands of copies.[ citation needed ] For example, John Green signed all 150,000 copies of the first printing of his 2012 novel The Fault in Our Stars . [1]
The growing popularity of ebooks and ereading devices has inspired the development of software — such as Authorgraph (formerly known as Kindlegraph and renamed to reflect its expansion to include all ereading platforms), [2] and Autography (for iOS devices) - that allows authors to digitally personalize ebooks, by including autographs, dedications, and photographs, and to provide such personalization remotely as well as at in-person book signings. Such software benefits authors, "who are not obliged to go on long distance promotional tours in order to autograph e-books for their fans", [3] as well as those readers who are unwilling or unable to brave crowds and longs lines at onsite book signings. [4] Before such applications were introduced, efforts to bridge the digital divide for those who read ebooks included having authors sign the backs of their fan's ereading devices [5] or sign ebooks via direct stylus input (e.g., on a Sony Reader Touch or Palm eReader). [6]
Book signings provide more than just a chance to obtain signatures. Authors and bookstores are benefited by the fact that many copies of the book being promoted are sold at these events. Signings also increase public goodwill and allow authors to connect with their fans. For fans, signings provide a chance to see and meet a favorite author and ask them questions. [7]
The development of social media platforms allows modern day authors to conduct virtual book signings. For example, The GoodReader and Autography jointly hosted an ebook signing with author HP Mallory, during which Mallory greeted fans via Spreecast, a social connectivity platform that allows users to have up to four guests on video chat at one time, to conduct Q&A sessions with even more participants, and to maintain a channel on the site, thereby recording and storing the Spreecast and assigning the recordings a URL for sharing at other outlets. [8]
Many authors use the book signing platform LiveSigning to host large-scale, streaming video book signings with their fans. Donald Trump hosted a book signing on this platform during his presidential campaign in December 2015. Book signings on LiveSigning typically consist of the author signing books, answering questions from fans, and making phone calls to some fans. After the event, the signed books are mailed to everyone who purchased a signed copy. [9]
An advance reading copy, advance review copy, advance reader's edition, advance copy, or a reader's edition is a free copy of a new book given by a publisher to booksellers, librarians, journalists, celebrities, or others, or as a contest or school prize, before the book is printed for mass distribution.
The Sony Reader was a line of e-book readers manufactured by Sony, who produced the first commercial E Ink e-reader with the Sony Librie in 2004. It used an electronic paper display developed by E Ink Corporation, was viewable in direct sunlight, required no power to maintain a static image, and was usable in portrait or landscape orientation.
Mobipocket SA was a French company incorporated in March 2000 that created the .mobi e-book file format and produced the Mobipocket Reader software for mobile phones, personal digital assistants (PDA) and desktop operating systems.
Adobe LiveCycle Enterprise Suite (ES4) is a service-oriented architecture Java EE server software product from Adobe Systems used to build applications that automate a broad range of business processes for enterprises and government agencies. LiveCycle ES4 is an enterprise document and form platform that allows capturing and processing information, delivering personalized communications, and protecting and tracking sensitive information. It is used for purposes such as account opening, services, and benefits enrollment, correspondence management, requests for proposal processes, and other manual-based workflows. LiveCycle ES4 incorporates new features with a particular focus on mobile devices. LiveCycle applications also function in both online and offline environments. These capabilities are enabled through the use of Adobe Reader, HTML/PhoneGap, and Flash Player clients to reach desktop computers and mobile devices.
An e-reader, also called an e-book reader or e-book device, is a mobile electronic device that is designed primarily for the purpose of reading digital e-books and periodicals.
Adobe Digital Editions is an e-book reader software program from Adobe Systems, built initially using Adobe Flash. It is used for acquiring, managing, and reading e-books, digital newspapers, and other digital publications. The software supports EPUB and PDF. It implements a proprietary scheme of digital rights management (DRM) which, since the version 1.5 release in May 2008, allows document sharing among multiple devices and user authentication via an Adobe ID. Digital Editions is a successor to the Acrobat eBook Reader application.
The following is a comparison of e-book formats used to create and publish e-books.
OverDrive, Inc. is a digital distributor of eBooks, audiobooks, online magazines and streaming video titles. The company provides digital rights management and download fulfillment services for publishers, libraries, schools, corporations and book retailers.
BeBook is a trademark of Endless Ideas, a Dutch manufacturer of e-book readers and tablet computers. The first BeBook device was a rebranding of the Hanlin eReader. They have filed for bankruptcy and have released no new models since, their website has been taken down.
An ebook, also known as an e-book or eBook, is a book publication made available in digital form, consisting of text, images, or both, readable on the flat-panel display of computers or other electronic devices. Although sometimes defined as "an electronic version of a printed book", some e-books exist without a printed equivalent. E-books can be read on dedicated e-reader devices, but also on any computer device that features a controllable viewing screen, including desktop computers, laptops, tablets and smartphones.
The Kobo eReader is an e-reader produced by Toronto-based Kobo Inc. The company's name is an anagram of "book". The original version was released in May 2010 and was marketed as a minimalist alternative to the more expensive e-book readers available at the time. Like most e-readers, the Kobo uses an electronic ink screen. The Arc tablet series, released between 2011 and 2013, was based on LCD technology instead.
Rakuten Kobo Inc., or simply Kobo, is a Canadian company that sells ebooks, audiobooks, ereaders and tablet computers. It is headquartered in Toronto, Ontario, and is a subsidiary of the Japanese ecommerce conglomerate Rakuten. The name Kobo is an anagram of book.
Graphicly was a platform for publishers which offered work flow integration, self-publishing, digital distribution, conversion, and promotion for digital content. Launched by Kevin Mann and Micah Baldwin, the website was initially a platform for digital comic books, but later added support for children's books, art books, and magazines. Graphicly accumulated more than 3,500 publishers and more than 10,000 independent creators. The website hosted an active social community, allowing creators and fans to interact directly. Graphicly shut down in May 2014, and some of its key staff moved on to fellow digital publisher Blurb.
The following tables detail e-book reader software for the Android operating system. Each section corresponds to a major area of functionality in an e-book reader software. The comparisons are based on the latest released version.
Kindle Direct Publishing is Amazon.com's e-book self-publishing platform launched in November 2007, concurrently with the first Amazon Kindle device. Amazon launched Kindle Direct Publishing (KDP), originally called Digital Text Platform, for authors and publishers to independently publish their books directly to the Kindle Store.
Lektz is an eBook business platform developed by AEL Data, operating in the UK and India. The platform has DRM, ebook reader applications, virtual book store, ebook conversion, elending, consumer analytics, and digital marketing solutions for small, medium-sized publishers and independent authors. Dr. M.S. Mohammed Sadiq, Sr. Vice President of AEL Data, is the chief architect of the Lektz platform and it draws support from AEL Data's ePublishing, digitization, accessibility solutions, and application development services.
E-book lending or elending is a practice in which access to already-purchased downloads or online reads of e-books is made available on a time-limited basis to others. It works around the digital rights management built into online-store-published e-books by limiting access to a purchased e-book file to the borrower, resulting in loss of access to the file by the purchaser for the duration of the borrowing period.
Pubsoft is a cloud-based eBook publishing platform headquartered in Houston, Texas. It serves as the publishing engine for Kbuuk, LLC, a self-publishing software company that provides digital conversion, distribution and marketing services for authors. Pubsoft is designed to allow publishers to create and manage an online eBook store for direct consumer sales. Publishers can also use Pubsoft to handle social media marketing, deliver eBooks to mobile devices, manage author and reader relationships and distribute royalties through an administrative portal that uses PayPal.
Google Play Books, formerly Google eBooks, is an ebook digital distribution service operated by Google, part of its Google Play product line. Users can purchase and download ebooks and audiobooks from Google Play, which offers over five million titles, with Google claiming it to be the "largest ebooks collection in the world". Books can be read on a dedicated Books section on the Google Play website, through the use of a mobile app available for Android and iOS, through the use of select e-readers that offer support for Adobe Digital Editions, through a web browser and reading via Google Home. Users may also upload up to 2,000 ebooks in the PDF or EPUB file formats. Google Play Books is available in 75 countries.
An autograph show is an event where the public, mostly autograph collectors or fans of an attending celebrity, gather to collect autographs from someone famous who attends to meet fans and sign items for them. Some autograph shows are part of a larger, comicon event, while others can be part of a specific event, such as the Super Bowl weeks' activities.
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