Looking to get a copy of your book signed or want to meet the author of your favorite novel? From celebrities to regular writers, many will be out and about in January.

Here are just a few of the book signings coming up this month in some of the major cities across the U.S.:

Back in 1968, Philip K. Dick wrote a science fiction novel entitled DO ANDROIDS DREAM OF ELECTRIC SHEEP, starring an bounty hunter looking for Nexus series androids, which later became the movie BLADE RUNNER.

Now, in 2010, Google has come out with a phone called the Nexus One based on their Android OS-software / technology.  Philip K. Dick’s family feels that hits a little too close to home, so they’ve filed suit against Google for infringement of intellectual property.

According to a letter Isa Dick-Hackett, Philip K. Dick’s daughter, sent to Google regarding their use of those names for their products, she said, “Google takes first and then deals with the fallout later. In my mind, there is a very obvious connection to my father’s novel. People don’t get it. It’s the principle of it. It would be nice to have a dialogue. We are open to it. That’s a way to start.”

It’s not the first time Dick’s family has sued Google. When Google began scanning books into their online database, many writers and their heirs tried to stop Google or at least negotiate better rights.  Google ended up settling the case by setting up a fund for the copyright holders, and they also agreed to set up a Book Rights Registry to distribute the revenue.

(Of course, it’s kind of ironic when you consider that the name of the movie, BLADE RUNNER, originally belonged to Alan E. Nourse’s book from 1974. Supposedly, writer Hampton Fancher, who was doing the screenplay for the Dick story, had seen a screenplay story treatment for Nourse’s book, and liked the name, so suggested they use that instead of DO ANDROIDS DREAM OF ELECTRIC SHEEP. Ridley Scott ending up paying out extra to be able to get the rights to the new name. Now if Nourse’s heirs ever do manage to sell their screenplay based on THE BLADERUNNER which has been around since the 70s, they’ll have to get a new name for it.  Kind of ironic, indeed…)

For a long time, I’ve been trying to find software that would let me catalog my books AND help me to sell them.  I finally found one that does pretty much everything I need and for under $50:  Book Collector by Collectorz.com.

It allows me to just type in the ISBN of the book (either the 10 digit or 13 digit version), and it checks multiple sources to bring in the information on the book, such as title,  author, number of pages, publisher, year published, plot and much much more. It even brings in a photo of the cover(s) if available.  It also then allows me to override any of the fields, which is a good thing, as publishers have a habit of reusing some ISBNs, causing the information on some older books to come up wrong, including covers/dust jackets which can change frequently. You can also add some of your own custom fields if needed to cover anything they hadn’t already thought of.

The software then allows me to export my “collection” completely or 1 book at a time to HTML, helping me create quick and easy code for a website or my eBay listings.  If you’re handy with XML/HTML, you can even tweak the templates or create ones from scratch to change the output into whatever layout you need. (Check out my eBay store for some examples of listings where I’ve used the software to create the ads: Books-For-All-Reasons)

If you need something to help you catalog your own book collection, whether for your own personal enjoyment or because you also sell your books, I recommend you check out Book Collector.  They offer a free trial version to help you decide: Automatically Catalog Your Book Collection. Free Trial.

And if you’re an avid collector of other things, such as comic books, DVDs, video games and more, why not test drive their other software for free?:

Automatically Catalog Your CD Collection. Free Trial.

Automatic DVD Database Software. Free Trial.

Automatic Comic Database Software. Free Trial.

Automatically Catalog Your Video Game Collection. Free Trial.

THE LOVELY BONES, the acclaimed bestselling novel by Alice Sebold, tells the story of a girl who was murdered and who is narrating the story from Heaven.  It is a tale of someone torn between vengeance and trying to heal those left behind.

Now the movie based on the book hits theaters Jan 15th. It stars Rachel Weisz, Mark Wahlberg, Susan Sarandon, Amanda Michalka,   Stanley Tucci,  Michael Imperioli and Saoirse Ronan as Susie Salmon, the narrator of the tale.  (Ronan was nominated for an Academy Award for her supporting role in ATONEMENT.)

The original book, THE LOVELY BONES, draws some of its inspiration from Sebold’s own life: brutally attacked and raped while in college in the 1980s, she was told by police that she had been “lucky” to survive as a previous victim had perished. (“Lucky” became the title of her first book, a memoir of the attack .)  Just a few months after she was attacked, she recognized her attacker still stalking the Syracuse University area and was able to testify against him, putting him in prison.  She managed to complete her degree (after taking a few months off ), then went into graduate work and spent the next 15 years or so waitressing, studying writing and trying to write her story.

Sebold originally tried turning her experiences into poetry, then novels, finally getting published in 1999 with LUCKY. THE LOVELY BONES was published in 2002, winning the Bram Stoker award for best first novel. (LUCKY was non-fiction.)

And now 8 years later, THE LOVELY BONES finally hits the big screen.

Check out the movie trailer:

If you prefer your books in paperback format, check out what’s being released this January in softcover: