Slipknot's M. Shawn Crahan pushes art book while touring

"I'm selling the book every day at the concerts," the bearded, bespectacled Crahan said before a signing at Changing Hands Bookstore in Tempe, AZ.. "It's a more intimate setting [there] … [and the book is] a lot cheaper than it is in most [bookstores]," he added, explaining that fans can grab a copy at Slipknot's Mayhem Festival tour stops for the discounted price of $30.

"We're in the corporate world," Crahan said of the book-publishing industry. "The corporate world is a lot different in book-selling than music. My books don't get to be scanned [for the purposes of tracking sales figures], is the best way to say it, when I'm [selling it] at the venue. In rock 'n' roll, I used to own a bar. Bands that were on small labels, they bring in a SoundScan sheet and sell some CDs. I would sign off on it, making it legit and faxing it to SoundScan. And those would count for next week's sales. "

In the corporate book business, Crahan cannot take a form to a venue's general manager and have him or her sign it to prove he sold 100 books.

"It's quite a different business," he said. "But in the end it doesn't matter. I'm not here to try to impress anybody outside the normal world with those kinds of facts. What matters to me is that my publisher, MTV Books, is happy. I want a chance to continue with art books."

Crahan said his goal since childhood was to create an art book and "be on the shelf with a lot of the greats."

"I wanted to take my art from my subconscious and bring it out into a tangible thing for you to hold," he said.

That said, Crahan--who was accompanied by his teenage daughter at the Tempe book-signing appearance--explained that his book tour is geared toward the serious art lover.

"I explain it to people like this: It's as if you're in a classroom of 30," he said. "One kid is going to make a serious living or dedicate his/or her life to art. Where the other 29 might into sports--which, there's nothing wrong with sports; I like sports. I could say computers but there's a smaller percentage that like art. The book tour is going well, but it's catered to that one person. [It] comes down to that one kid.

"So everybody that's here today, whether it's one or another number--I don't care about [that]," Crahan continued. "These are the ones that are dedicated to trying to get an epiphany or revelation of art to push them to a point in their life of creation or imagination. I cater to all sorts of people. And they want to hear my experience with what I've created."