So writers are pretty rad.

I am not speaking with the voice of a fellow writer.

I am speaking as a reader.

Writers spend days, weeks, years tapping letters to paper for your eyes to touch like brail, interpret into vast worlds and experiences, lifting you out of your breathing, heavy body and moving you into another state of consciousness. Into other consciousnesses. People and lands you’ve never met, nor maybe that even exist.

If said writer is exceptionally good they take you away, totally and completely.

You lose yourself. Your physical feelings of the Department of Motor Vehicle’s hard plastic chair biting into your ass as you sit in a stale coffee-spiked room crowded with other prone and zoned out waiters, the reluctant push of the glass entry doors wafting about hints of BO, crushed cigarettes and Chanel knockoffs as you internally beg for your number to be called.

Writers can fly you up out of the hospital bed, out of pain, as you lie trapped by needles and tubes, antiseptic and despair, shuffling nurses and the fear you may never walk again.

A break from the moment, a mental respite of relief as you delve into someone else’s world, their fears and successes. Dance on the backs of dragons, discover secrets that could save the world, figure out how to find true companionship.

Be inspired by other people’s struggles to change and better themselves by reading. Their stories. To take you out of yours.

For a little while.

And, if the writer is one of the best, their writing, their stories, will inspire and teach. Answer questions. Give you an opportunity to make your own changes, shine a light on your path that was obscured by self-doubt or ignorance (or any number of things), and choose to become a better person.

That takes craft. And skill. And years of practice. It is something that few can do and so many fewer at that highest level.

And to be someone’s Favorite Author. To have a book that is someone’s Favorite Book means that writer has met a level of writing to be able to give to their readers.

So why wouldn’t we value their signature?

A very real, analog contact with the reader that is indelible to that physical book.

Why wouldn’t it be valued?

Because… the signature is not for the reader.

It doesn’t enhance the reading experience. It does not add to everything that I listed above.

It doesn’t whisk the reader a little deeper into the story, connect more with the character, make the chapter more thrilling, the romance more steamy, that conversation more funny, that death more poignant.

So the signature is not for the reader.

It is for the collector.

The reader could also be a collector, and love the signature. A special gem hidden among the bookshelf stacked reading diamonds.

But it is loved for the signature. The feeling of the story doesn’t change.

And that signed book’s dollar value lies in how much other collectors love the book and/or value that signature.

I am not a fan of Stephen King’s books. The scary is not something I enjoy. Respect his writing ability and acknowledge he has a lot (a LOT) of people that deeply enjoy his writing? Absolutely!

Would I get a thrill if I found a first edition signed copy of The Shining?

Oh goodness, yes!

Because I love the book?

Heck no. I’d sell it!

Pay-off some debt and take a vacation. Get a new bike. Buy a new bookcase and fill it with books I like. That are not signed and just for the reading experience. And then read them all.

That is where the worth of a signature comes in for me.

I love the reading experience. I am not a collector of dollar-value items. I am a collector of story-value items, to me.

I really like my trusty little Honda, with her good gas mileage, that will eventually accelerate up to speed on the freeway. With some effort. And looks like so many other cars in the parking lot I often have to check the license plate to make sure it’s my car.

Would I be happy if I won a Ferrari?

Heck yes!

I’d sell that puppy in a heartbeat, quick and for a song, to someone who would love it for what it is.

And then I’d probably buy some more books.