Signed Bookplates Available for S. by J.J. Abrams

Hachette Book Group is offering independent bookstores signed bookplates from author and director J.J. Abrams, whose new book, S., hit shelves on October 29 and came in at #7 on this week’s national Indie Bestseller List for fiction.

Abrams and S. co-author Doug Dorst have signed 500 bookplates for independent booksellers to share with customers.

“We both grew up with a favorite neighborhood bibliophilic haunt, and it was in those aisles that we discovered — and indulged — a love for books,” Abrams and Dorst wrote to booksellers in a letter accompanying the bookplate shipments.

S. is uniquely formatted with pieces of ephemera tucked into the pages, making the physical reading experience a critical one. “We knew that S. would need to be felt to be fully understood and enjoyed,” the co-authors said in the letter, which also thanks booksellers for their support of the book, as well as for their efforts in bettering their communities and for sharing the passion for the reading experience.

Hachette hopes the bookplates will serve as additional enticement for customers to purchase the book at their local bookstores and will provide a way for S. to be personalized for the holiday gift-giving season. The bookplates were designed to look as though they were created by the publisher of Ship of Theseus, the novel on which S.’s mystery is centered.

Bookstores can request bookplates by e-mailing [email protected]. Many bookstores have already received shipments of their requested bookplates, and shipments will processed as requests are received, until supplies run out.

As the book was embargoed leading up to its release, booksellers are now seeing the uniquely packaged title in its entirety. McKenna Jordan, owner of Murder By the Book in Houston, Texas, noted that “almost every customer we’ve shown it to has bought a copy to read and a copy to leave sealed. It’s really beautiful!”