Speaker 1: Welcome to Before Breakfast, a production of iHeartRadio. Good Morning.
Speaker 1: This is Laura. Welcome to the Before Breakfast podcast. Today's
Speaker 1: tip is that when you give a book as a gift,
Speaker 1: inscribe it. Gifts are about thoughtfulness and connection, and when
Speaker 1: you inscribe a book, you explain the connection you see
Speaker 1: between the gift recipient and the book. Through your personal note,
Speaker 1: you connect yourself to the recipient too. Anne Fatiman's delightful
Speaker 1: essay Marrying Libraries describes her and her husband's experience and
Speaker 1: merging their books. After five years of marriage, she and
Speaker 1: her husband decided that they would finally marry their libraries
Speaker 1: and let their books mingle together on their bookshelves. They
Speaker 1: went so far as to develop decision rules for determining
Speaker 1: which copy to keep if they each had the same
Speaker 1: book hardcover over paperback with marginalia over a clean copy.
Speaker 1: Fataman doesn't mention inscriptions in their decision rules, but I
Speaker 1: suspect you would agree that books with inscriptions are more
Speaker 1: valued than those without. So if you are giving a
Speaker 1: book as a gift, inscribing it will make it even
Speaker 1: more special. With little kid's picture books, the person reading
Speaker 1: the book to the child, is likely to read aloud
Speaker 1: your inscription. Most times, when they read the book to
Speaker 1: the kid, through your inscription, the child will feel your
Speaker 1: love again and again. Your adult friends too will see
Speaker 1: your inscription anytime they open a book you've given them
Speaker 1: and enjoy thinking about this connection. Inscribing doesn't need to
Speaker 1: be complicated. One good approach to inscriptions is to articulate
Speaker 1: a hope for them person that's related to the book.
Speaker 1: So a child's copy of If I Built a Car
Speaker 1: might read wishing you bold dreams and fun creations. You
Speaker 1: might also say why you like the book. So for
Speaker 1: a new niece, you might inscribe Sandra Boytan's Moo Ba
Speaker 1: La La La by saying this book always made Max
Speaker 1: laugh when he was a baby. I hope it makes
Speaker 1: you laugh too, love Aunt Maggie. A little detail is good,
Speaker 1: but don't sweat this, because the truth is that even
Speaker 1: simple inscriptions can warm up and personalize a book. Happy Birthday, Heidi,
Speaker 1: Love Susannah, October tenth, twenty twenty three. Or for a cookbook,
Speaker 1: simply bon Appetite Jean from Beth and Marcus. Just a
Speaker 1: little note written in your own hand makes the copy
Speaker 1: of the book you give different from every other copy
Speaker 1: out there. Of course, a note from the author can
Speaker 1: make a book feel special as well. And if you
Speaker 1: happen to plan to give a book I've written to someone,
Speaker 1: I'd be happy to inscribe a book plate for you.
Speaker 1: That's a fancy little sticker that you can put in
Speaker 1: the copy you are giving someone. Just email me at
Speaker 1: Laura at Laura vandercam dot com and let me know
Speaker 1: the name of the person the book should be inscribed
Speaker 1: to and any particular thoughts you'd like me to convey.
Speaker 1: I've inscribed lots of copies of I know how she
Speaker 1: does it for new moms with You've got this and
Speaker 1: copies of Tranquility by Tuesday, with you work hard, Here's
Speaker 1: to enjoying life. Give me your mailing address and I'll
Speaker 1: mail the sticker to you, or you can send me
Speaker 1: the address of the person you're giving the book too,
Speaker 1: and I can send it there directly. One final tip,
Speaker 1: if you are shipping a book you've inscribed, be sure
Speaker 1: to tell the postal worker that it's a book and
Speaker 1: so hopefully you can get the media rate you might
Speaker 1: pay significantly less. Inscribing a book is one of those
Speaker 1: tasks that take just a minute and has an outsized impact.
Speaker 1: So the next time you give a book as a gift,
Speaker 1: pick up a pen. A few words from you will
Speaker 1: make the gift far more meaningful. In the meantime, this
Speaker 1: is Laura. Thanks for listening, and here's to making the
Speaker 1: most of our times. Thanks for listening to Before Breakfast.
Speaker 1: If you've got questions, ideas, or feedback, you can reach
Speaker 1: me at Laura at Laura vandercam dot com. Before Breakfast
Speaker 1: is a production of iHeartMedia. For more podcasts from iHeartMedia,
Speaker 1: please visit the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you
Speaker 1: listen to your favorite shows.