How not to do a signing!

When I do book signings, the guidelines are so much worse-- buff handsome guards standing between me and my screaming fans, protecting me from their hysteria, because I have written the multimillion dollar bestseller that nobody can put down...

Oh, wait a minute.

That's just a dream.

At this juncture, I won't get that much attention over poetry and short stories.

katiemac said:

Cell phone cameras are the bane of existence for event organizers, especially where fans/press is involved.

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Yes, they are!

And a lot of writers don't want to be in a position of having to say no, so the responsibility falls to the organizer and/or the publicist. Hence clearly posted or announced guidelines prior to the event, so no one is disappointed in the moment.

And yet, people still try...

Given that there's a £30 000 bounty for anyone who 'arrests' Mr Blair, I suppose the extra security was inevitable (I'd do it for, ooooh, 30p). However, I don't see why the taxpayer should have to foot the six figure bill. AFAIA, most celebs pay for their own security.

If you are a real die-hard Blair fan, you may be interested in signed special editions of the book which come with a crimson slip case and the title stamped in gold. A snip at £150 a time.

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£150! There is a recession on, you know mate.

IdiotsRUs said:

Given that there's a £30 000 bounty for anyone who 'arrests' Mr Blair, I suppose the extra security was inevitable (I'd do it for, ooooh, 30p). However, I don't see why the taxpayer should have to foot the six figure bill. AFAIA, most celebs pay for their own security.


£150! There is a recession on, you know mate.

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Would you call Jimmy Carter, Bill Clinton, or either former President Bush a "celebrity?"

Okay, maybe Clinton would be considered a celbrity... but still, as former Presidents, all these men get round-the-clock Secret Service protection for life. As someone already said, the same is presumably true for Mr. Blair.

This guy must have got himself a horrible public opinion, worse than Dubya even. But when a President leaves office, we generally forget about him, except for using his Presidency for blaming "the current situation" on, as in "things can't be turned around in just a couple of years," or only four years, or whatever...

Okay, maybe Clinton would be considered a celbrity... but still, as former Presidents, all these men get round-the-clock Secret Service protection for life. As someone already said, the same is presumably true for Mr. Blair.

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Presumably. But, given our current economic climate, I think that spending six figures on one day's security so he can flog his book and make some money...doesn't look good. It's not like he couldn't afford the (extra, over and above the two guys he apparently normally has) protection, what with his $4.6 million advance.

Shakesbear said:

Thing is that the team that protect Bliar go everywhere with him - that is on all his foreign trips. So the taxpayer has to pay for the protection and for their stay in luxury hotels. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/10500996 has some interesting figures about how much is spent by the officers.

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This in particular:

The newspaper says it has seen documents which show the annual cost of Mr Blair's protection squad was nearly double the £135,000 submitted by the officers protecting Gordon Brown in his last year as prime minister

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So, protecting an EX PM cost twice as much than the incumbent PM? And for this book signing, for one day, it will cost about the same (if the figures I've seen are right) as that whole year of protecting Tony. So he can make money.

Bound to raise an eyebrow or two, particularly given the Blairs' history of blagging (though to be fair, that was more Cherie. Did you know if you're the PM's wife, cut-price clothes are your 'human right'?)

Why did you lot elect a game-show host in the first place?

...he did The Price Is Right, I think.

...professional 'autograph farmers' who turn up at signings of high-profile books to collect multiple signed copies and then sell them at a profit on eBay...

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... plain obnoxious is what this is. Sympathy to all writers who have to deal with such.