The Hardest Working Man in Publishing
Check out the tag signed on LibraryThing, and look at the top books. Those are weighted by book popularity. Here's the raw (unweighted) numbers.The data are clear: Neil Gaiman is a machine! Both lists start with his American Gods and from the full list six of the top seven are by him. From Gaiman's author page you can tell he's signed 193 books on LibraryThing. Of all signed books on LibraryThing, 1% were signed by Gaiman. (Compared with only two books signed by J. K. Rowling.) Calculating that maybe a quarter of users employ tags, it stands to reason that his pen has passed over something like 800 books on LibraryThing—and LibraryThing is a speck in the ocean of books. What's up with this guy?
In related news, I spent Thursday and Friday touring with my wife, in support of her new book Every Visible Thing, doing Toad Hall Books in Rockport, MA and Brookline Booksmith in Brookline, MA.* Touring with a six-month old baby is pretty hard. I spent most of it, including all of the readings, walking around with Liam in a sling. Between the car seat and unfamiliar places, he slept terribly. After two days, all three of us were wrecks. We've been recovering since.
So, I've decided that—clearly—Gaiman has no children. Damn. I just checked. He has three. As far as I can tell from his blog, he isn't neglecting them either. I think I'll go back to bed now.
*Booksmith is an old favorite—Lisa and I used to live around the corner, and Lisa worked there—but Toad Hall was a new discovery for me. They're tiny, but obviously beloved. And they really go for my wife's books. In the last year they managed to sell 99 copies of her second book, In the Country of the Young—my favorite but probably her low-seller—apparently by just telling people to buy it. A chain bookstore can't do that sort of thing.
posted by Tim at 10:52 AM
18 Comments:
He's not a machine: he's just a comic book writer.
I'm willing to wager that most of those were signed at conventions where someone like Neil Gaiman draws long lines for days and may sign for hours.
His comics work (e.g., Sandman, Death) wouldn't show up in large quantities because fans would have individual issues or volumes signed, but whichever novels were most popular or current at the time of the signings would be at the top of the list because they're not serial.
I'm surprised it's not Terry Pratchett who has the most signed books on LT instead of Neil Gaiman. There's an old joke on how to tell which Terry Pratchett books are rare and valuable - they're the ones without a signature in them. :)
Dennis, you've never been to a Neil Gaiman book signing I take it? I've been to two in New York and one in San Francisco. The New York ones had about 700 people each (they were in the Union Square Barnes and Noble), the San Francisco one was about 900 people. They're easily the biggest book signings. I think the people come from readers of his blog and if you read his blog you'll see he deosn't do comic conventions, just signing tours. So a good hypotheses but I think it's just a lot of people come out when he signs.
Julie
Well, that's just people using the "signed" tag. I had my signed copies indicated in comments, which makes me think I should perhaps use the tag instead.
...and even with Gaiman's semi-frequent Minneapolis signings, I've nothing signed by him. Terry Pratchett, on the other hand--the anon's correct. XD
I have a signed Gaiman book, but I acquired it only because it was co-written with and also signed by Gene Wolfe, who was the real target of my pathetic fannishness.
I don't think that should throw off the stats too much, though.
Pratchett is far less popular in the U.S. than in the U.K., and I expect the majority of LT users are American. In the U.K., Pratchett signings tend to be a little larger than Gaiman ones, but it's close. Biggest one I've ever been to, however, was Douglas Adams' tour in support of Mostly Harmless. The line for the Manchester signing went through the store, out the door, and round an entire block.
Although Gaiman is famous for being exceptionally willing to spend time signing books -- you can even order signed copies on demand, if you're willing to wait for it -- I think there another factor at work here.
Remember back when Gaiman mentioned LT in his blog? How signups spiked? I suspect if another author who does a lot of signing and has a very popular blog gave you a mention you might see Gaiman given some competition.
People who read what Neil Gaiman writes enjoy the stories written by him.And many do flock to the areas where he does signings and readings,and what not.And why not?
He's a very nice guy.I went to a signing last year for Anansi Boys and the crowd was big.Granted,it
was a small place,but filled.And
then this year at Comic Con,the
panel for Stardust was booked in a big room.And the crowd was much
smaller.Contrast and comparison,I'll leave to you.
I may just be living under a rock, but I have never heard of Neil Gaiman until this moment.
I went to the National Book Festival in Washington, DC, last year when Gaiman gave a talk and did a book signing. Looking back, I'm sorry I didn't get a signed copy of Anansi Boys. I read it later and loved it. I enjoyed hearing Gaiman speak and would certainly return to another book talk or book-signing if he did one here again.
As for Gaiman's kids...they're a lot older than your delightful little Liam! :-)
From Gaiman's LiveJournal, commenting on this:
In case no one else has mentioned it, the LibraryThing blog declares you the hardest-working author in publishing. Counting books tagged as "signed" in LT, Tim comes to the conclusion: "Neil Gaiman is a machine!" Thought this might amuse you (and your family). Here: http://www.librarything.com/blog/2006/09/hardest-working-man-in-publishing.php Cheers.KB
That's very kind of them. The last time I linked in Tim offered me a free LibraryThing account or so that I really and truly plan to use one of these days maybe I hope when I get a moment. (There's a spare bedroom I plan to turn into an extra library room, and then I get to gather up books from their piles and find out what lurks unread, and begin the task of scanning them in.)
I saw that. I love the blogosphere. I figured it would get back to him somehow. I'm half thinking of sending him a hand-scanner. (LibraryThing will be offering them soon, and I'll have a spare sample one.) Then again, he surely can't READ as well as write, sign, be a father and etc. :)
Well, I have practically everything Pratchett's ever written, and none of it is signed - because where I live, Pratchett events (if any) tend to be ticketed and to sell out before I can get one.
Gaiman, on the other hand, I have seen - and I'd guess it's because outside the comic-reading fraternity he's slightly less well-known. I have never had to explain to my friends who Terry Pratchett is. I know people (and once was a person) who read Pratchett, but no other fantasy.
Also, I can't imagine anyone who reads Gaiman's blog who wouldn't want to meet him - even briefly as he signs their books.
Let's see, I have about 4 things signed by Neil, and I don't have all of his works. (My favorite one is the signed advanced proof of the novel version of Stardust.)
On the other hand, I have every Discworld book, and not a Pterry signature among them. I've been reading his books for 18 years, but he's never come near enough to where I live to get one signed. :-( On the bright side, though, that means I've got a whole set of valuable unsigned Discworlds! ;-)
But what about Robert J Urick. Every book by him on LT is signed!
I was just looking to see what tags I've used for denoting signed books as I wasn't on the master list of users with "signed" or similar tags, and I've got quite a few signed books. It's because I use "autographed by the author" and "personalized by the author" because I've got books that are only signed and books that are personalized. So, just throwing it out there that there might be even more signed books, but they aren't on the list because someone's using a different taxonomy.
I attended a few early Gaiman signings and many people coming to them were bringing a bunch of stuff to sign.
As he's grown in popularity, I think his people are making sure book stores are more vigilant about this sort of thing. I think Neil doesn't mind much an extra book to sign, but you know, give people an inch and they'll take a mile.
One guy in front of me for the Angels and Visitations signing had brought about 8-10 things to get signed.
Neil signed for over 4 hours at the last Library of Congress Book festival : I was his author escort for the event and he worked really hard, but also had a good time. The best thing he signed was a speeding ticket someone got trying to make it to the Book Fest in time!
Post a Comment
<< Home