Writers Tricks of the Trade VOLUME 8, ISSUE 4 | Page 26

also enjoy meeting the authors of my fa-
vorite books. One time, during the sum-
mer of 2010, I attended an author reading
in Seattle. After the author had read a sec-
tion of his book, he invited everyone to
come up and have their books signed.
"I had the author's book on my Kindle
and felt awkward since I didn't have any-
thing for him to sign.
W HAT IS AN A UTHORGRAPH ?
It's a personal, digital inscription for an e-
book, sent directly from an author to a
reader's digital reading device.
W HAT DOES AN A UTHORGRAPH LOOK LIKE ?
Click for an example
I S A UTHORGRAPH . COM
AZON ?
AFFILIATED WITH
A M-
D O READERS NEED TO OWN OR BUY MY BOOK
IN ORDER TO RECEIVE AN A UTHORGRAPH ?
No, but readers who request your
Authorgraph are very likely to be current
or future readers.
D O READERS NEED TO OWN A K INDLE DEVICE
TO RECEIVE AN A UTHORGRAPH ?
No, Authorgraphs are viewable on a wide
variety of platforms. Readers can simply
enter a regular email address at the time
of their request and they will receive an
email with links to download a PDF ver-
sion (viewable in applications like
iBooks) or an AZW version (viewable in
all Kindle apps on iPad, iPhone, PC, Mac,
etc.) of their Authorgraph.
I S
A UTHORGRAPH
THE
INSERTED INTO THE E -
BOOK ?
No, Authorgraph.com is not affiliated with
Amazon except that Authorgraph.com
does earn an affiliate fee for any books
purchased from Amazon.com after click-
ing on one of the Amazon links on
Authorgraph.com. No, it is a separate document. This allows
a reader to create a "collection" where
they can keep all of their Authorgraphs
together.
W HAT IS AN ASIN? A UTHORGRAPH ?
ASIN stands for "Amazon Standard Identi-
fication Number." It is 10 characters long
and may include both numbers and let-
ters. Yes. Paperback, hardcover, and audio ver-
sions of books aren't accepted.
THE READER NEED TO HAVE A
K INDLE
VERSION OF MY BOOK TO SIGN UP FOR
D OES
AN
A UTHORGRAPH
USE MY REAL SIG-
NATURE OR DOES IT JUST PRINT MY NAME IN A
SCRIPT FONT ?
H OW DO I FIND THE ASIN FOR MY BOOK ?
The ASIN for your book is right after 'dp'
in the URL of your book on Amazon.com.
http://www.amazon.com/dp/0061977969.
Let us say that’s the URL for your book. Then
the ASIN is 0061977969. It is also listed
on the details part of the Amazon page.
W RITERS ’ T RICKS OF THE T RADE
D O
One of the most distinctive features of
Authorgraph.com is the ability to actually
draw your signature. This signing takes
place completely in the browser window
using a mouse (or your finger if you use a
tablet). However, there is also a default
option that allows authors to print their
P AGE 21
W INTER 2019