Long-distance book signing flops

Canadian author Margaret Atwood has invented what’s believed to be the world’s first long-distance signing device - the LongPen, shown in photo in link below. The LongPen machine allows writers to sign books for fans anywhere in the world from anywhere in real time. So autograph parties can take place literally anywhere.

Just one question: is this for a real, or is this a hoax? Take a look and then decide.

brooksbulletin.com/news/ente … emid=49628

MORE: She will be showing this thing off at the London Book Fair and the press will be focusing on oddities like the official demonstration debut of Margaret Atwood’s LongPen device–invented to let her conduct fascimile book signings via a computer. She told one reporter: “I’ve said it time and again. This will not cause literary festivals, big-ticket events (to end). All of that will remain as is. But it will be possible for writers to go to places that you never got sent to before because the publishers couldn’t afford it.”

[…publishers have long realized that all but a tiny group of authors don’t draw any meaningful number of customers to signings anyway…]

On the Net:

www.unotchit.com

I think I’ve heard of something like this before, so I don’t think it’s a hoax.
But isn’t the point of having a book signed to show that you have met the author face to face ? And having your book personally touched by the author ? How much would a book “signed” by this be worth ? You might has well have a stamp made of the signature and use that.
This device may have some applications, but I don’t think this is one of them.

When I first heard of this last year, I thought it was a hoax. But now that I see the photo, and she is going to introduce it at the UK book fair this weekend, maybe it’s for real. But yes, good point, what’s the value of such an autograph done by remote?

MONEY QUOTE: "Created with book tours in mind, the machine has several other potential applications:
1.
enhancing credit card security,
2. allowing doctors to write prescriptions for out-of-town patients,
3. and signing legal forms such as divorce or real-estate documents from another province.

The LongPen is also adaptable to hold CDs and hockey sticks, allowing music and sport stars to give autographs remotely.
The idea for the device came to Ottawa-born Atwood during a particularly gruelling book tour for Oryx and Crake, her 2003 novel."

[quote=“Big Fluffy Matthew”]I think I’ve heard of something like this before, so I don’t think it’s a hoax.
But isn’t the point of having a book signed to show that you have met the author face to face ? And having your book personally touched by the author ? How much would a book “signed” by this be worth ? You might has well have a stamp made of the signature and use that.
This device may have some applications, but I don’t think this is one of them.[/quote]

All you need is a webcam to be face to face. You get a real pen signing your book, visual two-way contact via the real author or a simulated video at least and audio via Skype. What more do you want for it to be real? They can even spray some of the author’s favorite perfume if you are willing to pay a little extra.

update:

Around 40 people had turned up for Margaret Atwood’s book signing and, to the untrained eye, the fact that Margaret Atwood wasn’t one of them might have seemed a problem. Actually, that was supposed to be the point!

The fans arriving at the bookstore in downtown Manhattan had come to witness a long-awaited literary revolution: Canada’s greatest living novelist would sign books in New York despite the fact that she was in London!

MORE HERE:

books.guardian.co.uk/news/articl … 05,00.html

When it functions correctly, as it has done in several pre-launch tests, the LongPen allows an author to see the reader she is signing for, and vice-versa, using a videoconferencing system, and an image of the page to be signed.

OOPS? HOAX ALERT? But turning science fiction into fact was proving tricky yesterday, thanks to the even more powerful force of sod’s law.

“Something just happened of a technological nature,” Ms Atwood explained cryptically via videoconference from the London Book Fair to her audience in New York. Her team had been up until 3am on Saturday, buying new electronic parts and trying to fix the problem, but to no avail. “Unfortunately, we are going to have to sign your books here and then send them to New York. Please make sure to leave your addresses.”

She finally got it to work in London, at the book fair, from one room to another room in a different location in the same building. So it does work. Sort of.

not a hoax apparently…

Only a greedy hack like Mz.Atwood would think of something like that! Or at least put it into action. Good grief!

I pity the fools who lined up for that schmuck!

P.s. Margaret Lawrence was WAY better than that sterile excuse for a Canuck icon (HURL!).

It sort of worked, when you didn’t expect it to people said. In Atwoods words, “The Singing Frog Effect”. Either that or someone was handling some massive torrents on the same pipe, hence the huge lag.

“it Sort of Worked”…Bloody 'ell, that’s like being too drunk to fugg…
Atwood’s Singing Frog is more of a croaking Toad.
I’ll stop slaggin that witch… right …NOW.

I’ll try anyway :unamused:

Since Atwood has been spouting anti-male viewpoints and promoting vaginahabism for many years, I wouldn’t be suprised if she uses the “Longpen” for something else. :smiling_imp: