Sometimes individuals are lucky enough to live in a city where an author might appear at a large retail bookseller in order to autograph copies of a newly released book for inspired readers. However, in the much smaller towns and even in rural areas this is not always the case, and individuals searching for autographed copies of books have to look for other ways to obtain these books.

Each year there are a number of auctions held throughout the United States where individuals and collectors can purchase autographed copies of some really wonderful books. These auctions are held with the emphases of raising money for a special organization or even for the libraries of your own public schools.

One type of these auctions benefited The National Children's Book and Literacy Alliance, but this auction was actually held on-line. Several authors banned together to help sponsor this wonder event and even offered quite a variety of splendid autographed children books, which were auctioned off to the highest bidder with all the proceeds going to benefit the National Children's Book and Literacy Alliance.

Some of the authors that donated books to this auction were Natalie Babbitt, Laura Buller, Susan Cooper, Nikki Grimes, and Dennis Lucas. While some of the more popular autographed books that where auctioned off included such titles as Whales on Stilts, Jack Plank Tells Tales, The Man Of The House At Huffington Row, The Golden Rule, and Nutmeg. This auction offered over a hundred autographed books for individuals and collectors of autographed books to bid on, which were all written by children authors.

Some times, if an individual is lucky enough the author will have their own web site, which will let the individual know if there will be any book signings coming up in the area of the individual in the near future. If the author does not have their own web site, then try contacting the publisher of the author in regards of the proper procedures to go about obtain the autograph of the author or even a schedule of the public appearances by the author in your area.

It is true that trying to get your hands on copies of autographed books is not always an easy task. However, it is interesting and fun each time you add one to your collection. There is a special appeal that autographed books have that individuals and collectors alike hold dear to their hearts, especially if there is a notation from the author directed towards the individual or the collector. It is very easy to search on-line for autographed books and find hundreds, if not thousands, of autographed books available for sale on a variety of well known web sites.

On these web sites the autographed book in question normally contains a picture of the book and the autograph in question for the individual to view. Other web sites will offer an order form for individuals to print out, which contains the name of the author, the title of the book, the price of the book, and the quantity ordered. The individual is asked to fill this out send in their order with additional costs for shipping and handling for each book purchased.