This is the man who brought you Coraline, Graveyard Book, and other amazing books. Yes, that's the real Neil Gaimon at BEA. You wouldn't believe the line to get close to him. But the most interesting part of this signing was the unsigning. Instead of an ARC (advanced reading copy) the publisher HCI gave out over-sized postcards that had a PIN number. You go to the Harper Collins web site, plug in the PIN number and the book is downloaded into the format of your choosing. Not only was Gaimon's new book being distributed this way, but about a dozen other novels were also being passed out in the same manner. This is the end of books as we know it at BEA. Sad, but true and it makes perfectly good sense. Publishers don't have to print books to pass out, books won't be sold on Ebay, and everything is better for the enviroment. You won't be able to share your book with anyone as it's only one download/PIN, but you also won't have to pay for the shipping back to your home. Personally, I'm old school. I love books and putting a postcard on my book shelf looks pretty lame.
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