Signed by the Author
July 17, 2007 by Lillie
Signed by the Author offers books that are, as the name says, signed by the author. If you are like me and like to collect autographed books, this is a great site to find books by a variety of authors. An autographed book makes a distinctive gift for a reader, and you can request the book autographed to a specific person.
If you are an author with books to sell, Signed by the Author makes it easy. They process the orders and even send you a PDF file containing an address label ready for you to print out and affix to your envelope or box to mail the autographed book. You are required to put their logo on you Web site to assure readers that you have authorized Signed by the Author to take orders for your book, and they take a commission (less than bookstores). Request information for authors if you’re interested.
The site is fairly new, so it will take time to see how well it works. But it looks to me that a good opportunity for both readers and authors. David Bowles has listed his book, and Spring House is one of the featured books right now. David sells autographed books from his own site, but he hopes that Signed by the Author will introduce his books (he’s working on Book 2 in the Westward Sagas now) to new readers.
If you have any experience with this site, let me know how it went.
[tags]Signed by the Author, David Bowles, Spring House[/tags]
Lillie,
Thanks for this resource! Their prices seem to be quite reasonable!
Jeanne
Hi Lillie!
Thanks for this find. While I stopped drop-shipping my book and just refer out to amazon or bn.com; I’m curious what their mailing policy and turn around time requirements are…I just requested more information.
I’ll keep you posted with results from an author’s point of view.
Peace my dear!
Lille,
I’m so glad that I came across this post. These make wonderful gifts for avid readers. I love it!
Hi Lillie.
Hmmm…
1. It’s a VERY new site, hence less options/categories. There’s not even a business non-fiction category. Which can be good or bad for me…But, the present stock does cater to ‘fiction’.
2. Very inexpensive alternative book-promotional option, as it’s $2/year for a listing. With 25% referral fee, much better than amazon.com
3. I have a number of questions remaining unanswered in their FAQs section, such as time, fulfillment, shipping costs, etc.
4. They pay quarterly…which sounds very odd.
5. I’ll see how they are in replying to my remaining issues.
Again, very interesting alternative…especially if authors have a huge stock of their books at home ready to drop & ship. I don’t, and refer out to amazon or bn.com.
It’d be great if they made the sale, paid us, then we ship, b/c I can get copies to my customers via amazon.com *very* fast…but, this way I’d have to put the $ upfront. Then, again I’d get paid in full each quarter.
Again…things that make you go “hmmm”
Ponn
I always love autographed books, even though I don’t read print much.
I’ll be interested in hearing what you think, Ponn.
Glad to share a new find, Tammi. If you use it, I’d love to hear your experience.
With anything new, it’s always “iffy” to see how it works out. But I figured for $2/listing, it wouldn’t be much of a risk to try it and see what happens.
There was another site called Autographed by the Author or something similar a while back that disappeared. However, they didn’t take the orders – just linked to sites of authors who would autograph and ship books.
I suspect at the best Signed by the Author will only make a few sales for each book, even after it’s more established. But for a self-published author who has an inventory of books, those few sales are worth the $2/listing, especially when you consider that one person buying a book and loving it can generate future sales. And most bookstores and even Amazon.com generally sell only a small number of each title, on average, though, of course, some books sell much better.
And of course, when you sell to bookstores through Baker & Taylor or Ingram or other distributors, you have to discount the book 55% and wait 60 days or more for payment.
Keep me posted on how they respond to your questions and whether they’re willing to add a category for business nonfiction.
I will…