Book It, Buzz: Landing a music star's ink for less than $10

For years now, autographed books coming direct from the publishers -- or direct from the authors themselves -- have been an affordable way to collect ink from notable names in all realms of pop culture.

It's not a perfect system with stamped autos, fakes and autopens sometimes in the mix -- a problem for publishers to catch as they are not authenticators -- but thanks to dedicated collectors on the Blowout Cards Forum and elsewhere, those problems often get caught and fixed ... or at least become well-known enough to avoid if it's an issue that goes uncorrected.

Getting ink in-person is always best -- book tours still happen, of course -- but landing autographed editions from publishers, online sellers or celebs themselves via their websites or other appearances are common.

Our latest subject and autograph in this ongoing series? TV host, pop star and American Idol winner Kelly Clarkson.

THE RUNDOWN ... 
The Book: River Rose and the Magical Lullaby (signed first edition via publisher)
The Author: Kelly Clarkson
The Specs: HarperCollins Children's -- released on Oct. 4, 2016 (32 pages)
The Price: $9.99 ($18.99 cover price)
The Spot: Online auction (fixed price)

Why it’s Buzz-worthy: The first American Idol winner has, of course, gone on to bigger and better things since that high-profile arrival years ago with almost 30 million records sold across her 10 studio albums, her long-running TV show, some movie spots, tours (of course) and three Grammy awards among other honors. Other projects have included books -- two children's books for this series -- and this was the first. Between the albums and the books, her ink is findable -- and I added a signed photo earlier this year for my 1990s-on musical autographs stash -- but this was too good of a price to pass up with a clean bold and large sig in there. Want her ink? Search for her official store/site and it's likely there's a signed CD or vinyl edition among them ... especially this time of year.

Why this item: This was a bargain buy as I had depleted my stash of signed books for this series -- I'm awaiting Black Friday slasher sales via the big chains for publisher-released editions to catch my eye -- so this is one that will help bridge that gap. Sure, it would be cooler to have a signed item showing the subject but her photo is the entire back cover of this oversized book so you can't miss it there if you're not familiar. (I doubt anyone buying signed books wouldn't be.) The children's book genre is also loaded with big names you probably know and have big spots in pop culture without premium prices -- so if it's only about landing the ink that's a place to look. (See the archives for this series for a few examples.)

Chase ink on cards: She does appear on some Idol cards from at least a couple of companies back in the day -- and I'd assume some other projects could have cards or cameos, too, but I don't think she has any certified autos at all.

The Bottom Line: Good name, good price. Can't beat that.

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