The Maker’s Mark

Behind The Author’s Signature

I can’t remember whom I first signed a book for but I’ll hazard a guess it was a woman. Not many men turn out for book signings. For sure I remember where I was. At Riverbanks Zoo in Columbia, South Carolina. Thus began signings for thirty-six years and counting. With them have come joy, pride, humiliation, difficulty, disappointment, and reward.

You may have read that Cormac McCarthy refused to sign books. Not true. He signed some for friends, personalizing them to keep them from being a commodity for collectors. That didn’t deter a breed of profiteers, however.

Dennis McCarthy and the author in Savannah, Georgia’s The Book Lady Bookstore.

My work in an online journal led to friendship with Cormac’s brother, Dennis. After Cormac died June 13, 2023, McCarthy forgeries exploded, even in books he didn’t write. Dennis’s response to whether Cormac had signed another writer’s book in The McCarthyist, the work of Journalist Umberto La Rocca, is clear.

Wrote Dennis, “I wish my answer could reach booksellers across the universe: there’s a 99.44 percent chance that this is a fake .... The only books he ever signed were for friends, and those, of course, were novels he wrote, not books written by others. The number of books he did sign was minuscule compared to the number that have appeared for sale on the Web .... Is there a remote possibility that many, many years ago, long before he became famous, a friend asked him to sign a novel written by someone else and he agreed to do it as a bit of a lark? Yes, but the chances of that happening are less than 0.01 percent.”

We lesser writers face other issues. Among them, strange spellings. It didn’t take me long to ask how people spell their name, no matter how obvious it seems. Jane can be Jayne. Tom can be Thom. Kim can be Kym. Don’t trust your ear. Is it Mary or Merry? And then fabricated names impossible to pronounce entered the fray. Keep a scratch pad handy.

You’ll learn that cheap pens outperform a Montblanc. You’ll learn too which page to sign and that economy trumps extravagance. Pat Conroy signed “For the love of—", whatever his topic was.

Some readers request “signature only.” Hold on to your horses. Generally they are not collectors. More likely your book will be a gift. They just don’t know who will get it.

Some readers make odd requests. Ron Rash told a memorable tale of a man who said, “I’ll buy your book if you sign it exactly as I ask.”

“How would that be,” said Rash.

“It’s for my ex. Sign it, ‘To the only woman meaner than Serena.’”

Expect disappointment. It’s not fun to watch people ignore you. I’ve seen authors shout like hawkers in a country fair. Seems demeaning. I’d rather be ignored.

Another thorny issue: the person who ties you up in a longwinded conversation as others wait for you to sign their books. Summon your best tact.

How’s your penmanship? Can people make sense of it? I thank my mother for my signature. Even before I began school she taught me penmanship exercises. Rows and rows of looped circles, etc. Regardless of your penmanship, sit down to sign a book. Standing makes penmanship more difficult.

Ok, you’ve put the finishing touches on your novel, but getting a literary agent seems impossible (and that is pretty much the case). Why not self-publish? It seems to be more respectable. Here, I advise you to consider the future. Where might your books end up? A couple I was friends with at the time were trendy and too cool for school. They saw my book in a thrift shop. With glee they told me my hardcover novel was for sale for a quarter. Their words sliced an X into my writer’s heart, but they did me a favor. I vowed to never self-publish again and I haven’t.

Finally, remember Cormac McCarthy’s words, “I was always attracted to people who enjoyed a perilous lifestyle.” If you write full-time for your livelihood you enjoy a perilous lifestyle. I enjoy mine, especially book signings ... as long as I spell the names correctly, and never forget, meeting readers is reward enough.