FedEx Should be Scared–and Intrigued
…And they should be trying to invest in this.
In three days at Book Expo America, I saw one technology that could really alter the world.
Because FedEx’s whole model is based on the need to transport paper around the world quickly–in situations where fax or e-mail isn’t practical for one reason or another. Situations that require a physical signature on an original document. FedEx, DHL, UPS, USPS, and all the other courier services need to know that the real business they are in at least as much about transporting signatures as in transporting large documents that would be unwieldy via electronic technologies.
Frustrated by the demands of wearying multicity author tours, acclaimed novelist Margaret Atwood was signing for a package on an electronic tablet. I’m sure you’ve done it. Mistakenly, she believed that she was actually creating a physical signature on a piece of paper, remotely–so, she thought, why can’t I sign a book in my house? After all, it’s been possible for years to do author events by video or audio, remotely. Why not a long-distance book signing?
And now she can. Using two-way videoconferencing, she can interact with a fan or group of fans anywhere in the world, and when a bookstore staffer puts a book under the pen at the other end, she can inscribe and personalize the book.
Interestingly enough, a lot of the company’s promotional material focuses on the “Green” feature: the amount of carbon saved in not flying. Of course, the author who doesn’t have to slog through international border crossings, airports, hotel rooms, and the rest of the grind may or may not be thinking about carbon offsets. And, of course, it’s going to be waaaay cheaper than a year’s worth of book tours–though once the novelty wears off, readers/fans may not find it as satisfying as a real in-person appearance.
Atwood’s company is called Unotchit and the product is Long Pen (TM). I couldn’t find any pricing information on the site but I’m sure that in most cases, a bookstore or other venue will install the device and then loan out the writing tablet (and, if necessary, the video cam) to the author, so the equipment cost will be relatively manageable. And I’m guessing, ironically enough, that a lot of those tablets and cams will be shipped by FedEx
This has huge implications–not only in publishing but in sports, finance, real estate (think about closings with absentee owners), music, international business, and probably dozens of other industries.
You heard it here first.
A lifelong activist, profitability and marketing specialist Shel Horowitz’s mission is to fix crises like hunger, poverty, racism, war, and catastrophic climate change—by showing the business world how fixing them can make a profit. An author, international speaker, and TEDx Talker, his award-winning 10th book, Guerrilla Marketing to Heal the World, lays out a blueprint for creating and MARKETING those profitable change-making products and services. He is happy to help you craft your messaging and develop profit strategies. Learn more (and download excerpts from the book) at http://goingbeyondsustainability.com
I agree that in-person author appearances are extremely valuable, and this, once the novelty wears off, won’t replace them. However, it will open up events that wouldn’t necessarily be possible in person–with authors who may be disabled and unable to travel, for instance, or to bring in audiences from several parts of the world at once to attend a live video seminar, and then let the speaker sign books afterward.
This is a far more accurate reproduction than the express courier signature tablets. It really is a kin of remote arm. What the courts will say, I can’t begin to know
I agree that in-person author appearances are extremely valuable, and this, once the novelty wears off, won’t replace them. However, it will open up events that wouldn’t necessarily be possible in person–with authors who may be disabled and unable to travel, for instance, or to bring in audiences from several parts of the world at once to attend a live video seminar, and then let the speaker sign books afterward.
This is a far more accurate reproduction than the express courier signature tablets. It really is a kin of remote arm. What the courts will say, I can’t begin to know
One of my staff members was all excited, because she got to “meet” and obtain an autographed book from Diana Gabaldon (at BEA) via this technology. My staffer thought this was absolutely cool.
I, too, think this is cool – once installed in bookstores around the world the author “tour” can reach even the smallest book shop. But I worry what this may mean for the organizers of BEA.
Author autographing sessions are one of the true wonders of BEA. The “Traditional” autographing area is a huge expanse encompassing 35 tables and 35 100-foot-long roped-off queues to manage the hoards of autograph-hungry show attendees. For three days a constant stream of authors rotate through those tables every half- or full hour, while backstage pallet-loads of books are stacked like the final warehouse scene from Raiders of the Lost Ark. Meanwhile, at booths throughout the convention center, hundreds more authors are on hand for in-booth autographing events.
One aspect of Book Expo is that the power publishers can burnish their own images by trotting out some of the biggest and hottest names available for personal appearances and autograph sessions, up to and including Presidents of the United States. Naturally, this generates gobs of publicity for BEA and glory for the publishers themselves. While there’s no doubt that many of the authors of those seven-figure-advance blockbusters (and the no-advance self-published) will still be willing show up in person at BEA to help those books along, there will be many other authors that may just choose to stay home, munch bagels with smoked salmon and cream cheese on bagel, and autograph in their underpants. There will inevitably be another readjustment in the balance of power between author and publisher, both for good and bad.
Technology has already made the “virtual guest” a widespread phenomenon, with loads of radio and TV interviews (right on up to the Larry King show) taking place while the host in one studio and the guests are in other studios or at home, thanks to the worldwide communications revolution. I’m sure the tendency will only grow. However, when this phenomenon extends to traditional personal appearances, I think we lose some of the benefit of “being there,” the person-to-person contact that is so important for social animals such as ourselves.
A network radio host sent me e-mail Thursday, inviting me onto his show at 10:20pm Friday night (I guess his original guest bowed out). I e-mailed him back, gave him my cell phone number, and everything was set. Friday night his producer phoned me, and I went on the air for 45 minutes from a promenade in front of my hotel on the New Jersey bank of the Hudson, just across the river from the Javits Center. The breeze was delightful, the view of Midtown more spectacular than anything achievable in a studio, and neither the host nor his audience had a clue I was anywhere interesting (or pleasant). Ain’t technology grand?
Still, I’m delighted that I was able to shake Arthur (Europe on $5 a Day) Frommer’s hand on Saturday, and to hand *him* a copy of my book. All the digital interaction in the world won’t replace that, and it won’t replace all the face time I had during the course of BEA with booksellers, librarians, my publishing colleagues, service providers, et. al. You can stare straight into the camera’s “eye,” but it won’t replace true eye-to-eye contact.
So, like so many technological advances, I’m going to embrace this one with some reservations. I’ll delight in the fact that it will allow me to “be” in more places than I could possibly accomplish in any other way, and I’ll be sure to resist the urge to do everything in my pajamas. I’m a travel publisher, gosh darn it, and there are some experiences that can only be had when you really, truly, travel.
Dave Marx
PassPorter Travel Press
https://www.passporter.com
P.S. – Will this significantly hurt FedEx? Probably not. Only the courts and legislatures can determine whether mechanically-made autographs will be legally binding. For now, we’re still in a world where faxed signatures are sufficient for many business purposes, but those must nearly always be followed-up by hard-copy originals.
One of my staff members was all excited, because she got to “meet” and obtain an autographed book from Diana Gabaldon (at BEA) via this technology. My staffer thought this was absolutely cool.
I, too, think this is cool – once installed in bookstores around the world the author “tour” can reach even the smallest book shop. But I worry what this may mean for the organizers of BEA.
Author autographing sessions are one of the true wonders of BEA. The “Traditional” autographing area is a huge expanse encompassing 35 tables and 35 100-foot-long roped-off queues to manage the hoards of autograph-hungry show attendees. For three days a constant stream of authors rotate through those tables every half- or full hour, while backstage pallet-loads of books are stacked like the final warehouse scene from Raiders of the Lost Ark. Meanwhile, at booths throughout the convention center, hundreds more authors are on hand for in-booth autographing events.
One aspect of Book Expo is that the power publishers can burnish their own images by trotting out some of the biggest and hottest names available for personal appearances and autograph sessions, up to and including Presidents of the United States. Naturally, this generates gobs of publicity for BEA and glory for the publishers themselves. While there’s no doubt that many of the authors of those seven-figure-advance blockbusters (and the no-advance self-published) will still be willing show up in person at BEA to help those books along, there will be many other authors that may just choose to stay home, munch bagels with smoked salmon and cream cheese on bagel, and autograph in their underpants. There will inevitably be another readjustment in the balance of power between author and publisher, both for good and bad.
Technology has already made the “virtual guest” a widespread phenomenon, with loads of radio and TV interviews (right on up to the Larry King show) taking place while the host in one studio and the guests are in other studios or at home, thanks to the worldwide communications revolution. I’m sure the tendency will only grow. However, when this phenomenon extends to traditional personal appearances, I think we lose some of the benefit of “being there,” the person-to-person contact that is so important for social animals such as ourselves.
A network radio host sent me e-mail Thursday, inviting me onto his show at 10:20pm Friday night (I guess his original guest bowed out). I e-mailed him back, gave him my cell phone number, and everything was set. Friday night his producer phoned me, and I went on the air for 45 minutes from a promenade in front of my hotel on the New Jersey bank of the Hudson, just across the river from the Javits Center. The breeze was delightful, the view of Midtown more spectacular than anything achievable in a studio, and neither the host nor his audience had a clue I was anywhere interesting (or pleasant). Ain’t technology grand?
Still, I’m delighted that I was able to shake Arthur (Europe on $5 a Day) Frommer’s hand on Saturday, and to hand *him* a copy of my book. All the digital interaction in the world won’t replace that, and it won’t replace all the face time I had during the course of BEA with booksellers, librarians, my publishing colleagues, service providers, et. al. You can stare straight into the camera’s “eye,” but it won’t replace true eye-to-eye contact.
So, like so many technological advances, I’m going to embrace this one with some reservations. I’ll delight in the fact that it will allow me to “be” in more places than I could possibly accomplish in any other way, and I’ll be sure to resist the urge to do everything in my pajamas. I’m a travel publisher, gosh darn it, and there are some experiences that can only be had when you really, truly, travel.
Dave Marx
PassPorter Travel Press
https://www.passporter.com
P.S. – Will this significantly hurt FedEx? Probably not. Only the courts and legislatures can determine whether mechanically-made autographs will be legally binding. For now, we’re still in a world where faxed signatures are sufficient for many business purposes, but those must nearly always be followed-up by hard-copy originals.