I did a cool thing with some other authors. You should go look at it.
That is all,
pat
Generally speaking, I assume that if you’re reading this blog, you’re a geek of some degree or other.
And if you’re a geek, I assume other things about you. I assume you’ve watched Star Trek. I assume you engage in some type of gaming, be it computer, board, or role.
I assume that you know who Dr. Who is. I assume you have a tiny shrine to Joss Whedon somewhere in your house.
And I assume you watch The Guild.
More importantly, I assume you know when a new season of The Guild has begun.
But just in case some of you aren’t entirely tuned into the geek allmind. I figure I’d be remiss if I didn’t point out that season 5 is already upon us.
If you’re a fan, it would be a shame if you didn’t wander over and check it out…
If you’re *not* a fan… well… then I’m guessing there’s either something wrong with you, or you’ve simply never been exposed to it. And if the latter’s the case, it would be a shame if you didn’t give it a try…
* * *
In other, slightly surreal news, NPR recently posted the results of the poll where they asked folks to vote on what their favorite SF and Fantasy books of all time were.
The Kingkiller Chronicles came in #18 on the list.
Out of all SF and Fantasy books. Ever. #18.
Seriously.
pat
A couple weeks ago I took a trip out to New York to meet up with my publisher and do some promotional stuff. I did a video interview. Recorded a podcast. And, as I’ve already mentioned, I got to touch and hold my first-ever copy of The Wise Man’s Fear.
I also signed some books. Kind of a lot of books. Three thousand books.
I’ve signed a lot of books over these last couple of years. But signing The Wise Man’s Fear is a different feeling. The paper feels different, for one thing. Plus, it’s my new baby, and that counts for a lot.
To be honest with you, I thought that I was going to spend most of the day alone in a room, working my way through stacks of books. I was kind of looking forward to it, actually. I’d brought an audiobook to listen to (Jim Butcher’s White Knight) and I was anticipating it being a pleasant, low-key day.
Luckily, the marketing people at Penguin know a lot more than I do. There’s more to signing this many books than just writing my name a bunch of times. The books need to be unpacked from the boxes, flapped (that means turned to the appropriate signing page), stacked, then reboxed.
That means I had a team of 4-5 people working with me all day, getting books ready for me to sign, then taking them away when I was done and re-packing them.
Here’s the team, hard at work. I’m behind the stack of boxes on the right. All you can see of me is my hand, blurring with preternatural speed, and possibly caffeine.
It was actually a lot of fun. We chatted. I told a few Ole and Lena jokes. I might have even sung a song or two. I tend to do that, occasionally.
The team was great. They kept me well-supplied with books and tea and good company for hours. Eventually, I asked if we could take a group photo.
Here’s one where I think I said something really inappropriate to make everyone laugh:
Here’s the one where I told everyone to do crazy eyes.
I totally win at crazy eyes. Nobody does it better than me.
What I learned over the course of the day is that 3000 books is a hell of a lot of books. It took about eight hours to sign them all. I burned through several pens, and for the last couple hours my shoulders actually hurt.
What do three thousand books look like?
Well, if you have twelve books in a box, then it looks like this many books:
Plus this many books: (Note that this stack is two layers deep.)
And then this many more books….
Also, hidden somewhere in these boxes, are a few copies of the book that I had the entire team sign.
You have no idea how hard it was to get some of them to sign their names. They looked so scandalized when I suggested it. My argument is that if you spend eight hours in a room with me, listening to me sing and tell bad jokes, you should get to sign a couple books too. The signing is the fun part, and I’d feel bad hogging all of it myself.
Now the big question. What are all these books for?
Well, ultimately, they’re for you. They’re for people who can’t make it to one of my signings, but who still would like a signed copy of the book.
[Edit: As of Feb 20th, the Signed Page is no longer taking orders for signed books. But many of the bookstores on my signing tour are still more than happy to mail you a copy.]
Now you’ve got another option: At the end of this blog is a list of all the stores that these books will be going to.
Hopefully, one of these stores is close to you, and you can just swing in and reserve yourself a copy.
But even if none of them are close to your house, I’m guessing that a lot of them would love nothing better than to sell you a copy and then mail it off to you.
My advice though? You might want to contact the stores sooner rather than later and place your orders. These are all first-edition books, and I think a lot of people are going to be snatching them up pretty quickly. I know I wish I’d picked up a few more first editions of The Name of the Wind….
Here’s the list of bookstores, organized by state:
I’ve included as much contact information as I have at the moment. Rest assured I’ll be updating it as soon as I have more:
Alabama
American Wholesale Books
4350 Bryson Blvd
Florence, AL 35630
www.booksamillion.com
Arizona
Poisoned Pen
4014 N. Goldwater #101
Scottsdale, AZ 85251
www.poisonedpen.com
(480) 947-2974
California
Almost Perfect Bookstore
1901 Douglas Avenue
Roseville, CA 95661
[email protected]
(916) 781-7935
Bay Book Company
80 N Cabrillo Hwy Ste F
Half Moon Bay, CA 94019
www.baybookcompany.com
(650) 726-3488
Books Inc
1501 Vermont St
San Francisco, CA 94110
booksinc.net
(415) 643-3400
The Bookseller
107 Mill St
Grass Valley, CA 95945
www.grassvalleybooks.com
(530) 272-2131
Bookshop Santa Cruz
1520 Pacific Ave
Santa Cruz, CA 95060
www.bookshopsantacruz.com
(831) 423-0900
Borderlands Books
866 Valencia St
San Francisco CA 94110
borderlands-books.com
(415) 824-8203
Copperfield’s
139 Edman Way
Sebastopol, CA 95472
copperfieldsbooks.com
(707) 823-8991
M is For Mystery
86 E Third Ave.
San Mateo, CA, 94401
www.mformystery.com
(650) 401-8077
BookShop Benicia
856 Southampton Road
Benicia, CA 94510
www.bookshopbenicia.com
(707) 747-5155
Anderson Books
425 University Avenue Ste 210
Sacramento, CA 95825
[email protected]
Dark Carnival
3086 Claremont Avenue
Berkeley, CA 94705
www.darkcarnival.com
(510) 654-7323
Colorado
Bookworm of Edwards
295 Main St. C101
Edwards, CO 81632
bookwormofedwards.com
(970) 926-7323
Boulder Bookstore
1107 Pearl
Boulder, CO 80302
boulderbookstore.indiebound.com
(303) 447-2074
Off The Beaten Path
68 9th St
Steamboat Springs, CO 80477
steamboatbooks.com
(970) 879-6830
Old Firehouse Books
232 Walnut
Fort Collins, CO 80525
www.oldfirehousebooks.com
(970) 484-7898
Tattered Cover
1628 16th St.
Denver, CO 80202
tatteredcover.com
(303) 436-1070
Who Else? Books
200 S. Broadway
Denver, CO 80209
www.whoelsebooks.com
(303) 744-2665
District of Columbia
Politics & Prose
5015 Connecticut Ave NW
Washington DC, 20008
www.politics-prose.com
(202) 364-1919
Florida
Classic Bookshop
310 S. County Rd
Palm Beach, FL 33480
classicbookshop.com
(561) 655-2485
Idaho
Rediscovered Bookshop
180 N 8th Street
Boise, ID 83702
www.rdbooks.org
(208) 376-4229
Iowa
Prairie Lights Books
15 S Dubuque St
Iowa City, IA 52240
www.prairielightsbooks.com
(319) 337-2681
Maine
Devaney, Doak, & Garrett
193 Broadway
Farmington, ME 04938
ddgbooks.com
(207) 778-3454
Massachusetts
Pandemonium Books and Games
4 Pleasant Street
Cambridge, MA. 02139
pandemoniumbooks.com
(617) 547-3721
Michigan
McLean & Eakin Booksellers
307 Lake St.
Petoskey, MI. 49770
www.mcleanandeakin.com
(231) 347-1180
International Shipping for Wise Man’s Fear
Schuler Books
2820 Town Center Blvd.
Lansing, MI. 48910
www.schulerbooks.com
(517) 316-7495
Schuler Books
3165 Alpine Ave. Ste. C
Walker, MI. 49544
www.schulerbooks.com
(517) 349-8840
Schuler Books
1982 Grand River Ave.
Okemos, MI. 48864
www.schulerbooks.com
(616) 942-2561
Schuler Books & Music
2660 28th Street SE
Grand Rapids, MI 49512
www.schulderbooks.com
Phone: (616) 942-2561
New Mexico
Bookworks
4022 Rio Grande Blvd. NW
Albuquerque, NM 87107
www.bkwrks.com
(505) 344-8139
New York
Flights of Fantasy
381 Sand Creek Blvd
Albany, NY 12205
www.flightsoffantasy.indiebound.com
(518) 435-9337
[email protected]
North Carolina
Malaprop’s Bookstore
55 Haywood St
Asheville, NC 28801
www.malaprops.com
(828) 254-6734
Oregon
Annie Bloom’s Books
7834 SW Capitol Highway
Portland OR 97219
annieblooms.com
(503) 246-0053
Powell’s Books
1645 Hoyt St
Portland OR 97209
www.powells.com
VJ Books
20140 SW 112th Ave
Tualatin OR 97062
www.vjbooks.com
(503) 750-5310
South Carolina
Fiction Addiction
1020 A Woodruff Rd
Greenville, SC 29607
www.fiction-addiction.com
(864) 675-0540
Texas
Front Street Books
121 E Holland St
Alpine, TX 79830
www.fsbooks.com
(432) 837-3360
BookPeople
603 N. Lamar
Austin, TX 78703
bookpeople.com.
(512) 472-5050
Blue Willow Book Shop
14532 Memorial Dr. at Dairy Ashford
Houston, TX 77079
bluewillowbookshop.com
(281) 497-8675
Utah
King’s English
1511 S. 1500 E.
Salt Lake City, UT 84105
www.kingsenglish.com
(801) 484-9100
Virginia
Prince Books
Main Street
Norfolk, VA 23510
www.prince-books.com
(757) 622-9223
Washington
Third Place Books
17171 Bothel Way NE
Lake Forest Park WA 98155
thirdplacebooks.com
(206) 366-3333
Wisconsin
Bookfinders
1001 Brilowski Road
Stevens Point, WI 54481
(715) 341-8300
Janke Bookstore
505 3rd St.
Wausau, WI 54403
www.jankebookstore.com.
(715) 845-9648
A Room of Ones Own Bookstore
307 W. Johnson
Madison, WI. 53703
www.roomofonesown.com
(608) 257-7888
Barnes & Noble
www.barnesandnoble.com