My Weekend Homework


October 2 may seem a long way away, but I know the publication date for Mark of Athena is getting closer when my publishers begin sending me boxes of stuff to autograph. This weekend my job is to sign 1000 tip-in sheets for the limited U.S. edition of The Mark of Athena.

What does that mean? The box you see above is full of one thousand title pages from the book -- just the title page. I sign each one and send the box back to the printers, who then 'tip in' the sheets when they bind the book, so the book is printed with my signature already inside. Pretty cool, huh? Now this is only for the limited edition, which is a deluxe, more expensive collector's edition that comes in a slipcover box and has special artwork by John Rocco. The publisher is only printing one thousand total of these. They did the same thing for The Serpent's Shadow and The Son of Neptune. The regular edition of the book will be cool as well, but I couldn't sign all of those, since they print several million of them!

Next week, I anticipate getting a few thousand British tip-in sheets to sign, and I just finished signing a box of slipcovers for Taiwan. So, yeah, this is what I do on the weekends! Today, I plan on chilling out in the bedroom with the cats & dogs, listening to some music and signing away.

I'll share news about the book tour for Mark of Athena as the publication date gets closer. I usually don't find out where the publisher is sending me until about a month before -- so look for an announcement in September. And for more information, remember to check out the website's FAQ.