What is the ruling on signing books and writing dedications in them?

What some authors do, signing copies of their books at the request of their owners, is a new and foreign phenomenon that has no reasonable meaning. It is not a gift from the author, but rather a copy owned by the one requesting the signature. The signature is often requested from celebrities for pride or because the author is beloved. This signing may cause the author to become conceited. Based on this, the least severe ruling on this action is disliked (makrooh), because it involves imitation, is meaningless, and may lead to conceit in the author, and aggrandizement of the author and the copy. It may also open the door to temptation (fitna) between genders in book fairs.