Beckham offers e-book signing to fans in Hyderabad through Facebook

Retired soccer professional star David Beckham is planning to bend time and simultaneously sign copies of a photo ebook for ticketed fans in London, New York, Sao Paulo and Hyderabad through Facebook.

According to the Sydney Morning Herald, book signings are a traditional way for authors to engage their readers and Beckham plans to extend the custom to his Facebook fans when he launches a new photo book next week.

The manner in which Beckham's personalised signatures will be generated is still a little fuzzy, the report said.

The star said that it all comes down to reinventing the traditional format of the book signing through the use of groundbreaking technology.

He added that in partnership with Facebook, he wants to do a truly global signing to coincide with the launch of his new book, adding that if someone is in London, New York, Sao Paulo or Hyderabad, they can enter to win a ticket to take part in these events and receive a personalized digital signature from him via ground-breaking technology.

Facebook's entertainment partnership manager, Glenn Miller, is offering every fan who registers or attends the Beckham book signing in person on October 30, London time, a digital autograph from Beckham and participation in a live Q and A session, the report added.

E-book signatures are not new as signing services like Authorgraph already offer digital autographs of commercial titles such as El James' Fifty Shades of Grey, the report further said.

Years ago, the Canadian novelist Margaret Atwood took matters into her own hands and conceived The LongPen, which permits the remote signing of 'wet-ink' signatures, according to the report.