Atwood adds ‘inventor’ to CV with remote book signing deviceTORONTO (CP) — Picture a book lover in a Kamloops, B.C., bookstore getting his favourite author to sign a book — from her home in Toronto.
Sound like a science-fiction scenario?
Perhaps it’s fitting then, that Margaret Atwood, author of futuristic fantasies The Handmaid’s Tale and Oryx and Crake, has invented a prototype remote autographing device that has the potential to revolutionize book signings.
Atwood hit upon the idea for the machine after a strenuous tour for the paperback publication of Oryx and Crake that took her all across the United States last April.
“I thought, there has to be a better way of doing this,” she says. “I am now an old-age pensioner, I cannot keep doing this. I can’t keep eating Pringles (from the hotel minibar) and keep getting on the plane at four in the morning.”
The machine, created in consultation with computer experts under Atwood’s newly created company Unotchit Inc., is still in the development phase, but at the moment it will comprise two units. The first will consist of a screen, where the author can see and speak to the book reader in real-time, and a tablet on which the author will write the inscription. The second unit will be with the book reader, and will also include a screen to communicate with the author in real-time, and will have a flat book holder as well as an electronic arm and pen that will scrawl out the autograph.
The system will allow the inscription to be edited or spell-checked before being committed to paper and the quality of the signature should be identical to one done in person, Atwood says. The book reader will also be able to keep a record of the onscreen interaction with the author for posterity.
The autographing system is not meant to replace traditional readings or festivals.
“It’s an in-bookstore enhancement device,” Atwood stresses.
She expects the device to be ready for use in the next six to 18 months. The production cost of the machine hasn’t yet been determined.
“I applaud anybody that tries to think out of the box about these things and comes up with a truly original idea, but it’s also a wait-and-see thing,” says Doug Pepper, president and publisher of McClelland & Stewart.
“It has to come out, they have to perfect it, get the kinks out of it, and people have to learn how to use them and accept them. It certainly would be easier on the authors, and in terms of saving money, I would hope so — we’re always into saving money. One of the most costly things in any marketing budget is touring.”
(The Globe and Mail)
― Huk-L, Thursday, 6 January 2005 19:22 (twenty years ago)
one year passes...
Author-turned-inventor Margaret Atwood launches book-signing gadgetBy Angela Pacienza
TORONTO (CP) — She’s known to millions as a sharp-witted, bestselling author. Now Margaret Atwood is set to don a new hat with the release this weekend of what’s believed to be the world’s first long-distance signing device.
An international book star thanks to novels like The Handmaid’s Tale and The Blind Assassin, Atwood admits her new “inventor” role has turned a few heads.
“The reactions have been: That’s great. She’s mad. It’s a joke. She’s ruining (book tour) signatures. I can hardly wait to have one,” she said in an interview over coffee at a downtown restaurant.
The LongPen machine, which Atwood is unveiling Sunday in London, England, allows writers to sign books for fans anywhere in the world.
Here’s how it works: The author scribbles a message using a stylus pen on a computer tablet. On the receiving end, in another city, a robotic arm fitted with a regular pen signs the book. The author and fan chat via webcam.
Created with book tours in mind, the machine has several other potential applications: enhancing credit card security, allowing doctors to write prescriptions for out-of-town patients, and signing legal forms such as divorce or real-estate documents from another province. The LongPen is also adaptable to hold CDs and hockey sticks, allowing music and sport stars to give autographs remotely.
The idea for the device came to Ottawa-born Atwood, 66, during a particularly gruelling book tour for Oryx and Crake, her 2003 novel.
Rushing from one city to another while scarfing down fast food, Atwood thought “there must be a better way” to do book tours, she explained.
Atwood hired a couple of techies and started her own company, Unotchit (as in “you no touch it”), in the summer of 2004. The building of the device they designed was subcontracted to a Toronto manufacturer.
After two invite-only test runs last year in Ottawa and Guelph, Ont., the LongPen will officially be launched at the London Book Fair.
Atwood will conduct two transatlantic book signings of her latest release, The Tent, for fans in bookshops in Guelph, Ont., and New York City. Her husband, Graeme Gibson, will use the device to autograph copies of his latest book, The Bedside Book of Birds.
“It’s really fun,” said Doug Minett, co-owner of the Bookshelf store in Guelph, Ont., who was present for one of the test runs.
“Obviously you can’t press the flesh, but there are chances for a connection that you don’t get from a regular book signing when there are 5,000 people standing around you and you’ve got 30 seconds with the author.”
Unlike a photocopier or automatic pen which simply duplicates the same signature over and over again, the LongPen produces an unique signature each time because it copies the movement of the author in real time.
The video exchange can be recorded on DVD for a memento or for proof when signing legal documents or credit-card transactions.
Eventually, the designers hope to get the gadget small enough for use on home computers.
“It’s been a triumph of robotics software writing and micro engineering,” Atwood said proudly. “The guys, heading into it, had no idea it would be that hard . . . This was running out of my cellar. There is no office.”
The biggest challenge? The nature of handwriting.
“You’re writing at a very fast speed. You’re reversing very quickly so the actual gravitational forces at work are quite astonishing,” said Atwood.
The device went through several incarnations, including one “which actually did have smoke coming out.”
“It was one of those mad scientist movie moments,” recalled Atwood, whose business card identifies her as president of LongPen.
The response to the invention has not been all favourable. Atwood has received some heat from authors who think she’s trying to end book tours.
She denies any such intention.
“I’ve said it time and again, this will not cause literary festivals, big ticket events (to end). All of that will remain as is,” she said. “But it will be possible to go to places that you never got sent to before because the publishers couldn’t afford it.”
Atwood muses that publishers will be able to pair one unknown author with a bigger star to draw a crowd to bookstores in small towns. The unknown will tour in person, the star will sign using the LongPen.
So what’s next for the author-turned-inventor? A novel? Another gadget?
“Don’t ask. You never know,” she said raising an eyebrow.
― Huk-L (Huk-L), Tuesday, 28 February 2006 18:34 (nineteen years ago)