Pre-orders and autographed copies

Looking for an autographed copy of GO TELL THE BEES THAT I AM GONE, Book 9 of the OUTLANDER series?  Diana Gabaldon posted a long update on her Facebook page yesterday on the subject of the truly massive number of books and tip-sheets she will be signing in the coming weeks. It's definitely worth reading!

What's a "tip-sheet"?  I wasn't familiar with the term, but Diana explains it this way:

A tip-sheet is a loose sheet of paper, which will eventually be bound into a book as it’s produced.  It’s a method of dealing with huge numbers of books, where shipping the actual books to and fro would be both expensive and laborious.   I do this now and then --on request-- for some of my publishers (in the US, the UK (including Australia and New Zealand(, and Canada, on this go) when a new book is coming out.

If you'd like an autographed copy of the physical book, contact The Poisoned Pen. For those of you who don't know, the Poisoned Pen bookstore is a local independent bookstore in Scottsdale, Arizona, where Diana Gabaldon lives. They carry all of her books, and they ship all over the world. I've ordered books from the Poisoned Pen a few times, and the staff is very friendly and knowledgeable about Diana's books.

Obviously, the sheer volume of books that will need to be signed presents a huge logistical challenge for the Poisoned Pen, and a tremendous effort by Diana. <understatement!!> The photo below, from Diana's Facebook page, shows a small fraction of the books she signed for the Poisoned Pen when the 25th Anniversary Edition of DRAGONFLY IN AMBER came out in 2017. I'm sure you can imagine that the demand for BEES is going to be far, far greater!

IMPORTANT NOTE!! Here is what Diana had to say regarding pre-ordering BEES from the Poisoned Pen:

Now--thanks to you all who’ve been ordering the book!--BEES is going to be kind of a big thing, apparently, in terms of copies needing to be signed, moved, etc. I don’t know how many copies have so far been ordered from the Poisoned Pen (let alone how many they’ll eventually sell), but they had 20,000 pre-orders by August (thank you!!), and at that point, the Pen’s owner put out word that while I will sign all the books people want signed, there’s a limit (physically) to how many I can sign by December 10th--that being the latest shipping date on which you might reasonably expect the book to be delivered by Christmas. That limit is 20,000. (See, I can’t sign books until they arrive at the bookstore, which won’t be until November.) Ergo, if you want a signed book, handled by me personally <g>, you can certainly have it--but if you order it now, I might not be able to sign it in time for it to be shipped for Christmas delivery (especially not this year, when shipping and delivery is a lot bigger and more complex in every area of business). And I can’t personalize them, sorry. (If you really want a personalized book, just wait until January or February, when we’re not working under a shipping deadline.)

For more information about BEES, including additional pre-order links, please see my Book 9 FAQ page.