Author Discovers E-book Fans Avoid Signings

With so many books going to electronic format, readers now have their favorite fix with the click of a button for every type of story from both debut authors and best sellers. But what's happening to the book lover's special keeper shelf of signed novels by favorite authors?

It's empty, because E-fans have nothing to ask an author to sign.

New York Times bestseller Dianna Love has noticed the trend. For the past two years, e-book readers who did attend her signings often apologized for not buying the print edition. Some asked her to sign their e-reader covers, or the device itself. Others would slink up looking embarrassed, asking her to autograph a piece of paper, since they already owned an electronic copy of her books.

Love has discovered that e-book fans feel alienated because many bookstores now require the reader to purchase the new release at their store in order to attend a signing, reading, or author event. That's understandable since bookstores need to cover expenses, but E-Fans still feel the pinch of being left out.

"With the publishing industry in constant flux, there's one thing that should never change," says Love. "The reader is the most important part of our business. I'm a reader too, and I'm always looking for ways to do something special for my fans, because they deserve it."

Love has been giving out glossy postcards of her book covers to fans for the past two years, and this month she launched The Keeper Kase™ program for all fans, especially e-book fans. She's giving away Keeper Kase Cards™ of her books at signings and at her websitewww.AuthorDiannaLove.com, giving fans a new way to collect memorabilia from their favorite authors.

She's created a special Keeper Kase™ E-Fan page at www.KeeperKase.com telling readers how to get signed cards - free. Other authors are climbing on board with Love's program for E-fans, and thewww.KeeperKase.com page includes a list of authors offering free Keeper Cards to fans as well.
During Love's upcoming September book tour for her latest urban fantasy, The Curse, co-authored with #1 NYT bestseller Sherrilyn Kenyon, Love will ride her motorcycle to speak at locations that welcome all readers, regardless of the format they choose to read. She'll sign her new release, the free cover cards of her books, or the many other items readers bring to signings.

Love expects that by this time next year, book cover cards for a reader's Keeper Kase™ will be a standard offering from many authors to E-Fans.