German Autograph Hounds?

[ellenkushner]

Does anyone know if there's some kind of weird German Autograph Spam/Scam - or lemming-like genuine fan activity - going on?

On March 14, I received this e-mail (at the edress I've got listed on my website):

Hello Ellen!
We are great Fans in Germany of you and therefore we would be very happy if you could send us 4 handwritten pictures of you. Many thanks in advance for your kindness.
Oh, sure - like I keep around photos to autograph!
On March 19, my assistant at the radio station got this - from a different person:

DEAR MRS. KUSHNER (yep, as though he'd filled in a blank)
I´M A GREAT FAN OF YOU. PLEASE SEND ME AN AUTOGRAPH, SIGNED BY PERSONAL SIGNATURE. PLEASE !
THANK YOU !

I hate to disappoint anyone, so let me know if there is some kind of genuine cultural divide - but it smells funny to me.

Comments

[pantryslut.livejournal.com]

It's a scam of some sort. *I've* gotten that message (though not recently), and I highly doubt I have ardent fans overseas like that.

[agentxpndble.livejournal.com]

It may be an eBay/collectible dealer stocking up on autographs to auction off... In the Vintage TV fandoms I collect in I see that quite often - And in one fandom in particular there are several German dealers because the show was VERY popular there.

Some of these dealers will just send out mass requests/photos for signing on the hopes that the fanbase will buy them at some point. Or that eventually the value will increase (if they don't sell them right away.)

[sartorias.livejournal.com]

I've heard that if they don't talk about the work at all, it's a scam. (I learned this too late a bunch of years ago when their predecessors used to write saying they were representing a library for handicapped kids about to shut down, and would I send an autographed book. Being clueless I'd pretty much sent my author copies before I realized there were a whole lot of libraries closing down. I asked on Genie, and was told yep, I'd been burned. Well, they probably got two cents, if that, for my autographied books, heh heh.)

[ellen-denham.livejournal.com]

I've gotten a few similar emails over the years and I never respond - in my case an autographed picture of me wouldn't be worth the paper it's printed on so I assume they just send out a gazillion emails in the hopes they'll find someone famous? Or something.

Like sartorias says, if they're such a big fan, why don't they at least name one of your books or radio show or something?

[lian-li.livejournal.com]

I say: scam, based on the fact that I am German, I'm a fan of yours, and I'd never ever send an email like that (alright, I don't care for autographs, but still...) I agree that the fact that there's not even a hint of exactly which work/aspect of your work they love is telling. I don't think this is a matter of cultural divide, or none that I am aware of.

[kateelliott.livejournal.com]

I've definitely received the first one, a couple of months ago. Like you, it smelled funny to me, so I never answered.

[julieandrews.livejournal.com]

I think you should send them exactly what they asked for: '4 handwritten pictures of you'. Maybe write your name in the shape of a stick figure. An 'e' can make a good head, and an 'n' would make a great pair of legs or even a foot...

[the-darkstar.livejournal.com]

Well, as BEING a german fan / reader ...
... this is weird!
Sorry for that.

Hope you do not think we're all total MORRONS here :-)

[ellen-kushner.livejournal.com]

Not at all! Just, maybe it was something teenage girls do or something . . . . Some things don't always translate well. Glad you checked in.

[aulus-poliutos.livejournal.com]

The teenage girls here are too busy crying over the fact that one of the Tokyo Hotel singers has problems with his voice and will need surgery. :)

[aulus-poliutos.livejournal.com]

Well, I do collect autographs of opera singers and conductors, and while I try to get those after a performance, it has happened a few times that I wrote to someone. But I never send an email but a real letter with a bit more text than "I'm a fan, plz send autograph," and a SASE, and often it goes via their agency.

So, that one you quote looks like a scam thing.

[redbird]

I could see (if I were an autograph collector) sending an email, but as you say, it would have more text--if they were saying something like "Dear Ms. Kushner, I am a fan of yours, and especially loved _The Privilege of the Sword_. The way you show Richard and Alex is just right. Would you please send me your autograph," I'd be more inclined to believe it.