Tour Update 5/13
Posted on May 13, 2011 Posted by John Scalzi 31 Comments
First: Behold the shrine of signed stock at the Ohio State Barnes & Noble! For those of you who are not in the path of my book tour but would like a signed copy to call your own, I have been informed that if you e-mail the OSU B&N at “bookstore@osu.edu” and tell them you want one and give your contact information, they’ll phone you back and get your credit card and shipping information. So there you go (they ask you limit yourself to 3 copies at a time, which I think should not be a problem for most of you). Obviously this is a time-limited offer — if you’re coming to this post in, say, November, you may be disappointed.
Second, the airplane travel portion of the tour is already off to an interesting start. I got to the airport today and was informed by connecting flight into Lexington was canceled, but never fear, they would put me on the next available flight, which would get in at 6:39pm. Since my event starts at 7pm, this was a small problem. And thus I found myself in a hastily procured rental car, driving down to Lexington. The plus side to this is now I’m here several hours before I was scheduled to be. I think I’ll take a nap. Yes, this is the life of a touring author. Aren’t you jealous.
“the airplane travel portion of the tour is already off to an interesting start.”
Then there was time I ended up in taxi cab from Syracuse to Ottawa….
I love modern air travel, where sometimes giving up and driving gets you there faster.
I am jealous! I really want a nap…
See you in Lexington.
Steve, I wanted to read that as “where sometimes giving up and driving jets you there faster”. (grin) FWIW, the other day I was wondering what kind of m.p.g. a 737 gets while taxiing at highway speeds. (evil grin)
Dr. Phil
I hope you are sufficiently recovered from whatever ailment was suffered to the left side of your head so we get to see all of you in Seattle. Or maybe tell your publisher not to hire myopic photographers. Or maybe it’s art. I get confused by that sometimes.
I practically seethe with jealousy. Enjoy your nap, you fortunate person you!
They used a handsome face model on your signs?
But…what happened to the rest of your face?
This question may have been asked before, but it just occurred to me: What will authors sign on that day when everyone reads digital books?
@Melody #10
As an aspiring author, I can only hope that as the digital age progresses, there will be more opportunities to sign, um..er..strategic locations on people (my euphemism of the day). That being said, I will also fore swear writing YA novels as I don’t want to go to PMITA prison.
So where is the OSU B&N, relative to the campus? When I was there, they didn’t have such civilized amenities. You kids, get off’n my lawn!
I expect that the Ohio State campus bookstore is a Barnes & Noble now. At least, that’s what happened to Penn State’s bookstore. Now all the textbooks are back in a roped-off area, and you have to ask the staff to get them for you.
Brian Mac@13: I wonder if people rant at the bookstore staff that they won’t buy a textbook until it’s available electronically. That’s been known to happen in other venues.
See you Saturday in Los Angeles.
I am always grateful to people like you (and my brother incidentally) who seem to get the interesting travel experiences so that my travel is decidedly less interesting!
Melody @10: I have a number of signatures on the cover of my eReader. Unfortunately, even though a permanent maker was used, some of them are wearing off. I need a better solution.
Sunidesus @16: Clear plastic address labels from your local office supply store on top of the signatures? Staples lists a 300-pack for under $15.
Love the interview! It must be nice to be hypomanic. :-)
Aargh! I went out yesterday to my local big-box bookstore specifically to get Fuzzy Nation. Was it there? No. Was it in any of the other b.b.bookstores in town? No. Curses!
I’m probably taking a bus to see you in LA tomorrow. It will give me time to get FN read.
@ KurtRoedeger Awesome answer. I wish you luck in your future “signing” experiences. Glad the kids are safe from you.
“went to hear John Scalzi read for my birthday…I know you are green with envy if you know who he is..:)….he read from a book that doesn’t come out until 2012 and swore us all to secrecy and made us promise to lord it over those of you who did not attend this awesome event….consider it done JS!”
fyi my post Lexington event facebook post
I like your new author photo! It’s, like, serious and ironic about itself, or something. Was it Kyle?
Just finished Fuzzy Nation. It was good, but when I finished I just felt sad that you hadn’t spent the time on another Old Man’s War book. Sorry….
Another Liz:
Are you talking about the author photo in “Fuzzy Nation?” If so, that one is by me. If you’re talking about the picture being used in the in-store promotional bit, that picture is by Erica Hardesty.
#12, the OSU Barnes and Noble used to be Long’s bookstore. It’s at the corner of 11th and High Street.
Every photo of you looks different and seeing you in person was even more different. In a good way…not a creepy good way though…yeah.
I seriously considered making the six and half hour drive from Atlanta to Lexington just to hear you read from the forthcoming novel, but then I realized it would cost me about $130 in gas. Hopefully one of these readings will pop up on youtube.
Mike @28: Ain’t gonna happen. The audience is sworn to secrecy and all recording devices are asked to be shut off before the reading.
\m/ (<–sooper sekrit sworn-to-secrecy sign)
“…I have been informed that if you e-mail the OSU B&N at “bookstore@osu.edu” and tell them you want one and give your contact information, …”
So I’m supposed to call the OSU B&N, and tell them to ship it up here to Ann Arbor?
Why do you hate your (Michigan) fans?
Doug from OSU Barnes and Noble called me after I filled out the email request. It was relatively painless to do, and $6 and change in shipping cost. Cheaper than a ticket… Did I need a signed copy? of course not… but is it worth the extra 6 bucks…. Duh!