By Claire Booth
I will be appearing Tuesday night
at one of the best bookstores in the state of California, the independent Book
Passage. It has three locations in the Bay Area – I’ll be at Corte Madera with the
fantastic Allison Brennan. And we’ll be signing books. Which, thanks to the
California Legislature, could become an activity so risky for booksellers and
intrusive for their customers that it will have to stop.
Lawmakers started out trying to
crack down on fake sports memorabilia and autographs. Okay, that makes a little
bit of sense. You’d want to make sure that the signed baseball you’re buying
for hundreds of dollars really was signed by that Big League player. But the
law that actually passed swept a lot more than memorabilia up in its tidal wave
of legislative idiocy.
Like books.
No dealer shall display or offer for sale a
collectible in this state unless, at the location where the collectible is
offered for sale and in close proximity to the collectible merchandise, there
is a conspicuous sign that reads as follows:
“SALE OF AUTOGRAPHED MEMORABILIA: AS REQUIRED
BY LAW, A DEALER WHO SELLS TO A CONSUMER ANY MEMORABILIA DESCRIBED AS BEING
AUTOGRAPHED MUST PROVIDE A WRITTEN CERTIFICATE OF AUTHENTICITY AT THE TIME OF
SALE. THIS DEALER MAY BE SURETY BONDED OR OTHERWISE INSURED TO ENSURE THE
AUTHENTICITY OF ANY COLLECTIBLE SOLD BY THIS DEALER.”
For a
book??? A certificate of authenticity from a bookseller that has to be bonded
in order to sell to you?? I’ll give you a moment to pick your jaw up off the
floor. Because, wait, there’s more.
When an
author signs in the presence of store owners, the certificate must specify the
date and place of signing and identify a witness to it. They must say whether
they are bonded or insured “to protect the consumer against errors and omissions
of the dealer.” They must keep copies of their certificates of authenticity for
at least seven years.
Violations
of any of these can mean “oppressive financial sanctions”—as much as 10 times
the amount of any damages, according to the Pacific Legal Foundation.
Look, we all
know quite well that book authors aren’t sports stars, or rock stars, or anybody
else whose signature can command four or five figures. Ipso facto, there are no
forgery rings or criminal enterprises going on with autographed copies of
standard books sold off the shelf in bookstores. (I’ll leave the question of
signed copies of a first-edition Hemingway for another day.)
Because there’s no money in it. Bookstores don’t sell signed books for more
than ones that aren’t signed. And they sure can’t afford the staffing necessary
to deal with all those legal requirements. They already put forth a lot of time
and energy just to put on a book signing. Yes, they’ll likely sell more books
than if they didn’t host one, but they also do it for a whole lot more reasons
that. They do it to:
Increase a sense of community among its
customers.
Bring attention to often wide varieties of
viewpoints and subject matters.
Help authors increase their visibility with
readers.
And this
brings me back to Book Passage. It hosts more than 700 author events a year
among its three locations. Book signings are a key part of its business. So the
store and co-owner Bill Petrocelli are suing the State of California to stop from
enforcing the law.
The lawsuit
asserts that the law violates the First Amendment because it harms the ability
of the store to provide a forum for authors and ideas, as well as the ability
to disseminate signed books that contain those ideas. The lawsuit also alleges that
the law violates the Equal Protection Clause of the 14th Amendment
because it excludes online dealers and pawn brokers, who can continue to
operate as before with little oversight.
Here’s Bill
Petrocelli with more:
So in
conclusion, I’ve always been delighted to appear at Book Passage. This time, I’m
damn proud to appear at Book Passage. And if you’re reading this and live in California,
please contact your legislator to express your disapproval and your local
bookseller to express your support.
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