On 3rd June I took part in the future. How often do you get to say that? I sat in my study in London and signed copies of my new novel Burning Bright for people at the Book Expo America in New York. How? By using a LongPen machine, a device conceived of by the writer Margaret Atwood. (See? We do other things than write!)

Basically LongPen sends your handwriting over the airwaves, rather like a fax machine, and inscribes it in a book, or on a piece of paper, or whatever someone wants you to sign. There's a video link-up too, so you can see and talk to each other. Readers and I chatted merrily, mostly about how incredible the LongPen was, though occasionally we remembered to talk about books and stuff. There is an awkward silence as the machine does its thing and the recipient gapes at the signature appearing on the page, but once we all get used to it, and even become blase about the technology, that silence will be filled with all the stuff that normally gets said at signings.

It's funny, you would expect the experience, so mediated by technology, to be a little impersonal. Instead it was strangely intimate. Because of the way the camera was set up in New York, I could only see the person getting their book signed, and not the long line behind, so I could focus on them without being distracted by the hubbub around them. And readers got to see a slice of the private me, sitting in the place where I write my books, with an old tattered poster of Girl with a Pearl Earring hanging behind me, and stuff pasted all over the walls to do with the novel I'm working on now. Some of them even saw my son peeking over my shoulder, curious to see this new-fangled machine. And if they were really lucky, they got to see him knock over my gin-and-tonic and me scolding him. How domestic is that? You certainly wouldn't get that at a normal bookstore signing!

Of course maybe it's different at the other end. For that perspective, have a look at this blog from the Library Journal.

Will LongPen take off? Well, you know how for years people have kicked around the idea of a video phone where you can see the person while you're talking to them? And how that technology has been available for a while now, and some people use it, but most don't? It is just possible LongPen may turn out like that, once the novelty has worn off. But I hope not. It is very useful, for one thing, in a way that video calls just aren't. It has lots of applications other than book signings; you could use it to sign contracts, for instance. It saves money and time. For me, by using it I will be cutting down on carbon emissions, reaching readers I wouldn't otherwise, and giving myself more time to write rather than sitting in airports. Everybody wins.