Malabou connection

“Dear Amazon.com Customer,

We’ve noticed that customers who have purchased or rated Tool-Being: Heidegger and the Metaphysics of Objects by Graham Harman have also purchased Plasticity at the Dusk of Writing: Dialectic, Destruction, Deconstruction (Insurrections: Critical Studies in Religion, Politics, and Culture) by Catherine Malabou. For this reason, you might like to know that Plasticity at the Dusk of Writing: Dialectic, Destruction, Deconstruction (Insurrections: Critical Studies in Religion, Politics, and Culture) will be released on November 6, 2009. You can pre-order yours at a savings of $8.00 by following the link below.”

And no, of course I didn’t rate Tool-Being. I just purchased it a few times. Odd situations come up as an author when you quickly need extra copies of your own book, and Amazon is both fast and cheap enough that it’s often not worth making an official request to the publisher for discounted copies (to which one is normally entitled, beyond however many free copies you get).

One thing that surprises me is how often I get email from strangers that basically says “please send me a free copy of your book.” I’m not offended by this, just surprised, because I would never have dreamed of making such a request to anyone myself. Authors generally receive a rather limited number of complimentary copies of their own books (Open Court was always toward the generous end of the spectrum) and they are quickly eaten up by friends, family (my cousin Taera actually reads every word I write, bless her), and a few key colleagues.

When Tool-Being came out, I was of course so excited by the fact that I poured literally hundreds of dollars into buying additional copies and giving them to pretty much anyone in the vicinity who expressed an interest. But that gets old in a hurry, and I have never done it again.