Best Wishes!

So one of the many, many things that I found intriguing about all of these self-published books is the autographs.

Keep in mind, these books have been sent to a magazine publisher as entries in a self-published book contest. You would think that they would want to seem as professional as possible, right?

I don't know if maybe they see it as part of the published persona, but a lot of authors have signed the front of their books. And they don't just sign their names. They put things like "Best Wishes" or "Hoping you find success" or "Reach for your dreams!"

Personally, I find this odd. Who, exactly, is this meant for? This isn't a book signing. I didn't walk up to her table and say "I admire you so much, can you please sign this for me? Write something special!"

One of the books was written by a cancer survivor, who wrote that she wanted her readers to find strength and hope. Okay, that I get.

But many of these books are genre fiction. Romance, murder/mystery, cookbooks. And the authors say "I hope you find success in life!" I'm sorry, but how are you qualified to wish this for me? How will your book help me learn what I need to achieve success?

I know I'm not supposed to say this, seeing as how I do enjoy writing, but writers can be really weird. I think it's kind of like acting in that it takes a certain amount of ego to assume that people are going to want to spend time and money on your creation.

Oh! That reminds me, the author bios are always very interesting, too. One of my favorites listed the author's professional accomplishments (I think he had a law background) and ended with "And he writes beautifully, too." I would argue that if you have to tell people that, perhaps he doesn't write as well as you say.

Ahhh, self-published writers. A lesson in human psychology.