A box from Amazon arrived in our house late last week – something so common that it generally passes unnoticed or is  greeted with a tepid,  “Mom, there’s another box of books for you.”

Not this time. This time the box was ordered by one of my teenagers and contained two copies of John Green’s latest book “The Fault in Our Stars” and they were SIGNED.  Remember the book signing? When faithful fans trekked to stores to press the flesh and get an autograph of their admired author? This activity has been dying a slow death alongside the shrinking brick and mortar footage in which to hold such signings.

But, Green, a New York Times bestselling author and the recipient of dozens of book awards including an Edgar, found a way to resurrect it – without a name like Kardashian (the last time I saw a line for a book signing) behind him. He, along with brother Hank, have created an incredible following on YouTube, and it was there that he announced six months ago, that anyone who pre-purchased the book online or bought from the first printing distributed to bookstores, would get a signed copy.

The millions of “Nerdfighters” as the Greens call their devoted vlog watchers and book readers responded immediately, rocketing the book to #1 on Amazon a full half year before it was released. This piece of news is so rare that the mainstream media jumped on it.

An old (signed books) tactic, with a new execution (the publisher sent Green the page in the book to sign and then bound it into the entire first printing of books rumored to be hundreds of thousands) powered by the internet, inflamed Green’s young adult readers into a frenzy of anticipation for the new  book and his signature. Green decided (via online discussion) to sign in Sharpie and one of my teenagers decided that she must have the green signature to match John’s name. (Thankfully, the other teen had no issues with her signature being purple.)

As they immediately dived into the book checking with one another, “have you gotten to this yet” and “how far are you”, my admiration grew for the author inspiring a new generation of readers. J.K. Rowling, of course, has received ample and due credit for turning kids onto books with the Harry Potter series.  But, John Green is finding a way to hold onto them into their adolescent years.

Green isn’t stopping at those signatures, by the way.  He’s doing a tour via bus where he and his brother Hank will visit local cities to meet the Nerdfighteria and readers who follow them on YouTube. My teens have already picked up their $25.00 tickets for the event that will be held at a local community center. When asked what they would do with the second book that was included with the price of admission, they immediately said they would gift it to a friend with the hopes of turning another teen into a John Green fan.

Old ideas, meet new methods and success ensues.   What would possibly be better than that? And couldn’t the book community stand a shot of hope in these days when the very structure of our publishing world is being reinvented? I believe so. In fact, I believe it so fervently that I am next in line to read “The Fault in Our Stars” when one of my daughters completes it.