Categories: Random Musings
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by SB Sarah • Sunday, July 29, 2007 at 01:39 PM
Let’s talk business, baby - it’s business time. But not that way. Seriously. I like ya’ll fine but, not in that way. I mean serious business - promotion. Putting swans and hats aside for a moment, what are your best tools for self-promotion?
I ask because after RWA and the Goody Room that was 90% bookmarks and 8% books from Dorchester (BIG OOOPS) and 2% Other Stuff, I got to thinking: what’s the best way to promote yourself with extras and goodies and random stuff?
Linnea Sinclair, at her publisher signing, told me that she’s the master of cheap or free promotion. Her secret (and I hope she’s not pissed that I give it away) is to wait for any opportunity for free postcards from VistaPrint. The postcards, cut in half, make for excellent bookmarks, and you can upload your own designs, with two bookmarks per card. So 50 free postcards yields 100 free bookmarks. Nice!
I’ve also seen mugs (though they weren’t giveaways, to be sure), candy and chocolate giveaways (which I appreciated a LOT), magnets, pens, and post-its. I’m such a sucker for post-its, it’s sad. Other promos that I have and continue to use include a RWA NJ chapter itty bitty booklight, and two chip clips from Elizabeth Keyes, who keeps my tortilla chips fresh two years after I got two of her chip clips,
I’m relatively sure, but feel free to correct me if I’m wrong, that authors pay for a lot of this promo swag on their own, so I have to ask: what works? I’m not sure it’s possible to quantify, but do bookmarks work for promotion as well as magnets? Are there some items that are just 100% fantastic and everyone wants one? What innovative cheap promo items have you seen that worked to spread the word about a book? And how do you choose and use your promo swag?
I hate book marks and would never pick one up, unless I was VERY interested in the book and was afraid I’d forget the author’s name and/or title before I had a chance to get to the store. I collect magnets, so they would have a better shot of going home with me. Books would have a little better shot than at the store, but not much. They may be free, but you still have to haul them around and get them home somehow.
said on...Books are always awesome. And if they’re autographed, that’s pretty much a gurantee of making it on to the ‘keeper’ shelf, regardless of how much the reader liked it.
Bookmarks . . . I always have a use for bookmarks. But, inevitably, I’ll usually wind up using a scrap of paper or something, and acknowledge a bookmark as much as I would the paper, as far as the promotional aspect goes.
Chocolate will make an author memorable.
Mini flashlights seem a more durable way to go; stick the author’s name on it, and the person who picked it up will remember them every time they need to pry the cat out of the crawlspace.
Post-its are good. Little notebooks are better.
i love bookmarks and magnets...magnets will pretty much stay on my refrigerator forever. i also love pens. and the promo item i’ve had for like 3 years---a Darragha Foster keyboard duster! i couldn’t figure out what it was at first, but then someone explained to me that it’s for dusting your keyboard, it looks kind of like those brushes you apply blush with. it is super useful.
i’m not sure how much promo items actually influence me buying a book, but i sure love them.
In order to find out what works, it’s not just the freebies that matter, but does the freebie influence the person to buy the book.
For that reason, the only thing I put out there with my name on it is my books.
I have never once purchased a book based on a magnet or bookmark or post-it. I have read books I’ve been given, then gone on to buy other books by that author.
I do tend to have bookmarks created for almost every book I put out, but I also ship them out to booksellers, who tell me they do use them to put in books, to use for hand selling, to put on their counters, etc. So they do have their value, maybe not as free swag at conventions, but I do put them out there too.
I love magnets. They cover my fridge and I glance at them every time I open the fridge doors.
I love post it notes too. You can never have too many post it notes.
And I’m a total pen whore, though I’m more likely to read an author’s name on the post it notes than on the pens I grab.
said on...As a reader, I love the postcards. Usually, there my first look at the cover art, I can use them as a bookmark if necessary, and I often would get book and postcard signed at the same time. They all fit in a regular little photo album, and are a nice little momento to show off. I have received stray perfume
samples, temp tatoos and worse as promos. My all time favorite promo was a Nora Roberts box of tissues for the McGregors. (still unused, on the bookcase.)
I love bookmarks! But what I find to be most effective, as in, makes me remember the author, are things I use every day, when I’m not reading. Pens are awesome. And I love chip clips! One of the best promo items I picked up at RWA this year was Geri Krowtow’s jar-gripper.
LOVE those.
I love all those crappy bits and pieces (the most useful one was a magnetised clip) but none of it makes me inspired to buy books. Good reviews and word of mouth does it for me.
Dorchester made excerpt booklets for the Shomi line and I found those VERY effective to market with. They seem “more” than just a flyer or bookmark and contained actual content which would hopefully entice the reader to buy the book to get the rest of the story.
Dorchester printed about 5,000 of them and they were given out to booksellers, in the RT bags, at RWA, and we just gave out the last 600 to attendees at Comic Con. They were extremely well received in all venues and really helped build buzz, I think.
Drawback? Money. I have no idea how much they cost, but I’m sure they weren’t cheap.
said on...Bookmarks: I pick them up only for the genres I like.
Magnets: I pick them up if they have cutesie sayings.
Pens: Always
Stickies: Always
Calendars: Always
Chocolate/Candy: Always
Whether the item actually makes me order or pick up the associated book(s) is another story. I am very genre specific in my reading tastes. The promo items do help me to remember an author’s name and what they write, though. I have passed on an author’s name and book title to a friend now and then for sure.
I think little objects are 99% a waste of time. I always remember the advice the PTB at Loose Id gave me when it came to the best way to promote a book: write another book.
As for promo items I actually remember. A beaded bookmark from Resplendence Epublishing and some liquid hand soap from Alessia Brio. I’ve been meaning to ask where she got it from because it smells amazing.
With my first books, I did a lot of paper promo, shot it out to everyone, dead and alive. A year later, I’m doing that less, only buying promo that I feel will actually work for me. Pens, definitely. People hang on to pens. I also do teaser discs for signings, where I know they are going to people who were there to see the goofy writers penned safetly behind their tables.
I have bookmarks and business cards with a label on the back of my backlist, but to my knowledge, those by themselves have gotten me nada.
azteclady said on...Personally, the excerpt booklets would be the way to go--everything else may get me the author’s name and book list, but it won’t let me experience their writing. An excerpt does that.
And frankly, it’s the writing that matters the most.
I keep wondering if authors writing for similar (perceived) audiences would get anywhere asking their publishers to do this a few times a year for a bunch of “upcoming books"--with back lists and web addresses, etc.
said on...A couple of years ago a group of women mystery authors went on a promotional tour together, and handed out packs of Chiclets with labels advertising their books wherever they went.
I just realized my comment doesn’t quite make sense--even to me!
I mean: would a group (or groups) of authors from the same publisher, writing on similar lines, or for the same audience, be able to get out a group booklet with excerpts from those books? Not a blurb, mind, but an actual page, two page excerpt?
Because I do think that would make a difference, but I have no clue whether it would be doable, money-wise.
I lurve magnets. Stick them on my overhanging cubicle cabinet at work. I also love things like notepads and post-its - again because I’m always jotting down notes/ISBNs at work.
I can’t for the life of me remember who did them now, but there were a group of authors who did one big excerpt booklet for all of their upcoming releases. Saw them in the Goodie Room at RWA this year and thought it was very clever.
The best promo item I ever got was from Elizabeth Boyle who back around 2002 did travel coffee mugs. I use a travel coffee mug 5 days a week - so that thing got a ton of mileage and who knows how many people saw it over the years. I literally mourned its loss when the lid finally broke a couple of years ago. Don’t know how much they cost her, but dang I wish another author would do that because I’m such a travel coffee mug slut.
said on...I think the key is to get the reader hooked enough to buy the book. I like bookmarks, but an excerpt will more likely lead to a sale.
Hell28—Hmm; I’ll have to re-read Dante to figure out how I got here…
Emily said:
>> some liquid hand soap from Alessia Brio. I’ve been meaning to ask where she got it from because it smells amazing. <<
I actually think that *anything* that might make a prospective reader want to contact an author (in a positive way) would be good. Rather than advertising the book itself, promo the author--the author’s website should feature prominently on whatever item is given away as a promo.
For myself, I hate bookmarks or any little paper-like things. They end up at the bottom of my purse and annoy me. On the other hand, I’ve supported authors I’ve “met” online strictly on the basis of their online interactions—they seem genuinely nice, interested in helping others, etc, so I’ll pick up their books even if they aren’t in my particular genre.
The only promotional item that’s ever influenced me to buy a book was picking up a book by the same author at BEA--I’d never heard of the woman and I liked her book, so I looked for more from her.
<>
Yes, I thought so, too, so I sent my personal masseur, Lars, to Candy and Sarah in hopes of getting a review for my second novel, MIDNIGHT BRUNCH. I’ve been paying his daily rate, which could cover the cost of thousands of magnets and mugs, and they STILL haven’t returned him.
...it has yet to cause me to buy one of Alessia Brio’s books. She writes very well but not in my preferred genres. In the end promo can only connect you to readers who want to buy you stuff, not make them want to. I think targetting is key.
Big mistake, Marta. They’re supposed to *want* to contact you, not *hide* from you so you don’t get your “promo item” back!
Marta, would you send Lars to me when the girls finish with him? I’d like to interview him to see if he might be good for my promotional needs.
I’m asking purely as a professional courtesy, of course, and I’d be happy to reciprocate by sending my husband to you to sell you life insurance.
I go for “durable goods.” Things that won’t get eaten and the pretty wrapper tossed aside. Pens, stickies, keyboard sweepers and bookmarks because I like them!
Incidentally...I do have some keyboard sweepers. If you want one, email me. darragha @ gmail. com (no spaces).
I would love to print up little booklets with excerpts. I’ve not yet investigated the pricing for those, however. And the little note pads...love them, too.
I’m thinking “tote bags” next time ‘round. The coffee travel mugs would be cool, too.
said on...If you check out the podcast http://www.teemorris.com/blog/ it’s all about author self-promotion. Though Tee is a sci-fi/fantasy author, it’s pretty openly-applicable stuff.
Darragha -
Coffee mugs would be cool, but--just my opinion--I’d skip the tote bags. I get at least a dozen every year from conferences, etc, and I try to get rid of them as fast as I can. They’re great to carry stuff around *at* the conference, but then they’re off to goodwill or whatever filled with old clothes, etc.
The promo I remember the most: When Duke University Press published Public Privates, a feminist study of gynecology, they handed out plastic speculuums that had stickers on them with the book specs.
Ten years later, I remember the existence of the book, but I had to search DUP’s site to find the title, and I’ve never had the urge to read it.
My less gruesome favorite publicity item: When Johns Hopkins University Press published The Motel in America, they handed out little plastic keychains with room numbers printed on one side and the book data on the other. (Haven’t read that one either, but I did keep the keychain.)
Good advice on the totes. I saw an author walking around with one at my first convention and thought a “book cover tote” was kind of cool.
Here’s the question I ask myself:
“Where will this item be placed? Is it something that will be kept next to a keyboard and thereby, perhaps entice said holder to visit my website or buy one of my books?”
Will I be remembered? Apparently so--they keyboard sweepers are still floating around, huh?
For me it’s my website’s shiny new “Reading Room.”
After the Pixel-Stained Techno-Peasant Wretch dust-up earlier this year I put some of my out-of-print short stories and at least one lengthy excerpt from a novel up for people to check out. More will follow when I have time. People unfamiliar with my series characters get to meet ‘em!
For hand outs I LOVE this bunch: http://www.clubflyers.com.
You can get *5,000* 4X6 postcards on heavy cardstock for ***FREE*** from them.
Your art goes on one side and their ad is on the other, and these guys are FAST. You can’t beat the FREE part for 5K cards. You have to pay shipping, but it was only about 30 bucks.
I ordered 2-sided cards a few years back with 8 books featured and am still working my way through them. 5K is a LOT of cards!
If I’m chatting with someone and they’re curious about my work I keep a stash of cards in my purse to hand out.
Other outlets? Try your local cable channel to see if they have a “Book Chat” show. Dress nice, hold your head still, and smile at the interviewer. The camera will love you.
At signings I have brought cakes with the cover art on top. (It’s edible!) Get the cake early to be sure they do a good job. On one they were nearly out of edible ink, the cover was too faded to read, and I had to make them do it over! The bookstore employees loved the cake and afterwards always kept my books shelved.
One cool thing I heard at the RWA event was about signings: have the writer at one table with a few books, but stack the main stock of books on another table. Lots of people are shy about approaching a writer. This way they can check the book out first to see if it’s something they’d like, and not feel pressured to buy.
What defines “what works”? My readers always ask for goodies. I’m happy to do it and assume they’re the ones already buying the books. That’s fine. But the real goal of a goodie is to get a NEW READER TO BUY THE BOOK, yes? So as great as the chip clips are, have they made you buy the author’s book? Or do you think that’s an irrelevant point, as it’s good will towards all readers in doing goodies? Just curious as an added part of your question (which I love and ask myself ALL the time).
I’ve been seeing this more and more often on authors’ websites lately: contests with a trivia question where the answer can be found in the excerpt of their latest release.
I don’t enter these contests, but it might be effective because it forces potential readers to sample your work.
I love the book cover cake idea! Then again, I love cake. I can imagine that would earn lots of goodwill from people. Great, now I’m hungry.
My husband and I used to know a musician in Western Canada who had pillow cases printed up with something slightly suggestive written on them and that of course also promoted her latest album. Probably fairly expensive, but maybe more interesting that a tote bag or a coffee mug.
said on...I’m not much into trinkets and little things like that. None have made me want to buy the book. (Best giveaway lately has been a nice book thong--but it was at an author’s signing and I was already buying her book).
To me, the best thing is when you do a talk at the local library, etc. have bookmarks or whatever handy to reinforce who you are and what you wrote. It becomes a little shopping guide.
You guys already have a step up on most newly published authors, you have a highly successful, much read website.
Oh, I did this type of market research for an author this year.
She went to RT and sent me a bag of stuff and had me evaluate all the freebies.
I have to say two things stood out.
One author that did a miniature pamphlet of the first chapter from her newest book on really nice paper.
A silly tea candle in a cellophane bag, I think it came with some matches.
I told her to put those together and it would say romance writer with class to me.
The only thing I could think of that would go over even better…
Hershey chocolate bars with the cover of the book printed on the wrapper.
Oops, did I give that one away?
I’ve done the tea candle, business card and book of matches (promo matches, with book title and review snippets) in a gift bag before. I have lots of matches left. Such an inexpensive promo item and you get about a million books in a case.
Darr
Back to what I think works vs what freebies I like…
As an unabashed Suzanne Brockmann fan, I keep going back to the excerpt/booklet thing because she’s done it twice now (or rather, her publisher has--I understand it’s quite expensive), and I have seen first hand how it works with people who are not readers of hers. They get to experience her writing, and in plenty of cases they get hooked, and it has her back list and her website right there.
But then, she’s been in the bestsellers list a couple of times *cough* so Ballantine is willing to put more money promoting her--just as Penguin does for Ms Roberts. That is not the case often for midlist authors, so what are they to do?
And that brings me back to wondering whether it would work for authors to do group promo--and whether perceived competition for the same market share would play a factor on it not happening.
Personally, I think it would do just the opposite--IME, YMMV, very few bibliophiles are able to resist when they read something they like, and I’ve been known to streeeeeeeeetch my beleaguered budget to accommodate more books than originally planned when a good excerpt, or a trusted reviewer’s take, catch my eye.
And perhaps, a detachable bookmark with the author’s back list and website could be part of the booklet. Those are handy things for me. I can carry them in my fanny pack/purse to the bookstore, or keep around the computer when I’m browsing amazon…
Freebies I like? Magnets with cute saying, pens and post-its, and definitely the scented tea light with matches! But I don’t know that those alone would make me buy anyone’s book…
I’m actually going to find a way to buy a book tomorrow because I read an excerpt of several pages from someone’s book....so yeah, that DOES work!
Freebies in ‘my’ world that make a big difference are things like pens (we never have enough), one sheet calendars, post-its, even calculators (OK, pricey).
As far as readerstuff goes, I can see bookmarks with the book list and website on them....
AND, a list of the books in the order they should be read. Sometimes I feel like super-sleuth trying to figure out if is this book 4 or 7 in the WibbiWobble Saga.
And again, once you get me to your website, if you can tempt me with excerpts from your book....just make it good though (I read one the other day that was literally bland, I thought “OK, why did this book get 5 stars??)
So, truly: besides word of mouth, what makes YOU buy a book? Especially ebooks or books outside your usual “genre?”
Darr
Okay, here’s my chance to thank Nora Roberts for the many magnetic calendars she has sent out. Really useful, looked at daily. Do they make me buy her books? No. But then, I don’t buy books anymore. I buy library cards. On the other hand, the magnetic calendars do make me think more favorably of her in general (or maybe think I owe her one), which leads me to defend her name in arguments, recommend her books to people wanting to read a well-written romance, refrain from gratuitously insulting her in blogs, etc. This is not a bad result for a promo piece. I suspect it carries over to any author’s promo items that get used once we take them home. How can you flame the author whose chip clip you depend on?
But back to selling books. Printing up a short story and handing it out at a conference, as Stevi Mittman did, makes the writing familiar without the frustration that excerpts set up of not being able to read to the end of the story. That creates a warm feeling directly related to the writing. Not everyone can write a short story, or wants to. Still, getting the reader invested in the writing seems like a very good way to go.
Reading a free excerpt by the author and having the immediate opportunity to read the rest by buying the book itself is the next best. Very tempting. But if there’s an availability delay between the excerpt and the printed book, my I’ll-find-it-at-some-library caution kicks in. But that’s just minimalist me. All you people contributing to the consumer economy by buying dozens of books per month (and more power to you) probably feel differently.
said on...This isn’t from the book business, but when my boss goes to tradeshows and the like, what the things that work best are pens that write well, and post-it notes. She just went to OSCON 2007 (international open source conference), and after the second day was seeing our pens in the most random places. I’ve seen people hand them to other people when they recommend us. They write reliably well, which makes them useful for the people we give them to, and they have all our relevant information, which makes them useful for us.
Yeah, ditto on the good pens. Ross Labs is KNOWN for having the best Freebie Pens in the business. We fight over their pens. We steal their pens from each other.
We LUB Ross because of those wonderful, WONDERFUL pens.
How can you flame the author whose chip clip you depend on?--HA HA. I like that :)
I sent a whole mess of pens (color-change pens at that!) to a local radio station and hand them out everywhere I go. When a clerk hands me a pen to sign a debit card slip, I say, “Your pen is boring. Try mine!”
Darr
said on...I think it’s asking too much to expect a promo item to inspire a reader to buy a book from an author they’ve never read before. Maybe it’s my extremely limited budget (in terms of both money and time) speaking, but I rarely buy a new book unless I’m already familiar with the author, and I don’t get familiar with authors unless I remember the name during my visit to the library (or sometimes the used book store). But my memory’s not so triffic that having a pen in my purse, or a nice bookmark to rescue out of a book I’m returning, or a magnet that I see every time I want some juice wouldn’t make a difference in my circulation record.
The only exceptions to this pattern are authors I become familiar with and read works from online. And I don’t mean excerpts.
I HATE excerpts.
I’ve never heard anyone else say this, so I may be in an extreme minority here, but excerpts make me feel manipulated in the extreme. They’re never long enough for me to bond with the characters (that takes at least 1/3-1/2 of a book, usually) and the “want more? pay up” at the end makes contrary me say “screw you, I’m gonna go reread Bet Me”.
Longer pieces, OTOH…
My other genre is sci-fi, where it’s relatively easy to find the technopeasantry just giving it away--I found both Cory Doctorow and Neil Gaiman through their incredibly content-heavy sites. And while Doctorow isn’t really to my taste (I’ll stick to recommending, rather than buying, his books), I am now among those who worship Gaiman as a god among men and will probably end up owning all his books.
Darr,
The author I work with does eBooks that is why the miniature pamphlet of the first chapter on really nice paper struck me as a great way to introduce people to her work since it may take a year or so for her to go into print.
The bookmarks with upcoming books are great but you have to like the author already in my opinion.
The bestest thing I got from RT was the autographed book Pack Challenge from Shelly Laurenston. I am her fan boy for life now.
I am a sucker for viral or solve me!-type campaigns. J.K. Rowling did this with her website and all the little nooks and crannies just thrilled me to pieces. Everyone likes to buzz about something, especially if whoever is instigating the buzzing is keeping veeery quiet.
BTW: safeword is size39. I am NOT!
Most if not all of my first time authors I get via used books (either Amazon or Le GoodWeeL) I have a list...that way if I get burnt, I’m only out of 1 to 4 bucks at most.
OK, there is the library, but it’s sorta out of the way for me.
So excerpts mean I go and add to my “wish list” and keep authors in mind when plundering used bookshelves. I think I tried Kleypas the first time as a used book because of an excerpt.
OK GOODIE! Spaminator word is—PARTS69
Drat--- I only have half the parts.
I would go with the excerpt booklet. I was thinking of a postcard that would have cover art on one side, and then the back would have the blurb that would be on the back of the book. But an excerpt booklet would be great.
There is a way you can print out a single sheet of 8x11 paper and fold it up into this cute little booklet with just a couple of cuts. If/When I am ever published, I might try that as my promotional gig. Plus the postcards.
I think definitely reading an excerpt will get someone to buy over jar openers and tissues boxes.
said on...Oh, I’m not sure if freebies would make me buy a book. I’d at least need to have heard something about the author/book. However, I get a LOT of freebies at my job (office manager) and I chuck most of them out because no one wants them. Things that are still lying around are pens (you can’t beat a good pen), post-its (but just square ones, funny shapes get binned instantly), mini flashlights and a mousemat. On mousemats: I get about 10 of those a year, and I only ever use or need one. So, not a good idea…
I must first admit that I love freebies. Favorites that I’ve snagged from various conferences include a little block with a post and clip on it to hold pictures and the little sunglass clips that go on your visor. And pens. I am a total pen whore. I buy them, swipe them, anything I can do to get my hands on them, all in my quest for the “perfect” pen.
Do they make me buy books? In and of themselves, no. Especially not if it’s an author I’m unfamiliar with. These days, if I’m contemplating a purchase of a new title by an author I’m unfamiliar with, I go to their website and look for information on the book. Something more than I’d get on the back cover.
Unlike Rosalie, I love excerpts. No, I’m not looking to bond with a character in an excerpt. I’m looking for enough of a taste to let me know if I’m going to like this author’s style of writing. I’m looking for something in the excerpt to grab me and make me say/think “Wow, I want to read this book.” Bookmarks don’t generally cause that reaction in me. Although if it’s perhaps a reproduction of a cover and the cover is intriguing enough for me to want to find out more about the book, then I’ll - you guessed it - look for the author’s website.
For what it’s worth? If an author doesn’t have a website with information on their books? It’s extremely doubtful that I’ll actually buy the book.
Hah! Spamword is money29.
said on...PN Elrod...good comments from the experienced & successful.
Freebies are cute & sometimes useful, but what convinces me to buy? Name recognition (my favs) and information...reviews, excerpts, reader comments.
I always pick up those excerpt pamphlets when I see them at the bookstore, and an enclosed tealight would guarantee a reading & favorable impression of the author.
An example of how I choose new authors to read...Susan Lyons. I had seen her 1st book several times on the shelf, and read the back cover. A little out of my usual zone and pricy large format. Finally, I went online & read those “amature” reader comments (SB, Amazon, etc. skip biggies like RT & NYT, I find them useless) and found the author website for the excerpt. Then I purchased the book and loved it. Tracked her second release online & purchased on lay-down day. She’s now on my auto-buy list. Release day for her upcoming release is on my calendar, and I have already read an excerpt on her website.
IMO a good (& updated) website is a must for any modern author. Also, I have purchased several new authors based on their positive & intelligent online participation in disscussions (examples Kalen & Shomi authors)
I tell everyone how I use Vistaprint postcards, Sarah, so no problem at all. As for their efficacy, I’ve read down the posts with interest. Nothing works for everyone, that’s for sure. But as several have noted, most tangible promo (and a lot of the intangible) is on the author’s own dime. This makes low-cost and freebies essential (especially as things frequently get thrown away).
I use bookmarks because they fit in the low-cost/freebie department, they’re light weight, small, portable and are a decent way to give a reader an idea about my book. Let’s face it, when you see a book on the shelf, what do you see? Cover art and back blurb. What do I try to give you on a bookmark? Cover art and blurb.
Is that perfect? No. But it’s a start. And with Vistaprints’s semi-freebies (you do have to pay shipping), it’s not a huge issue if the bookmarks eventually get tossed.
I also use Cafe Press for T-shirts, mugs and totes but obviously can’t give those away in quantity (I do give them away as contest prizes, though). My feeling on those items is they’re walking billboards (especially the T-shirts). I wear T-shirts with my bookcovers and tag lines on them when I go grocery shopping and often get asked about them (especially because of the tag lines). So if you’re in a supermarket in Florida and the gal ahead of you in line has GAMES OF COMMAND T-shirt on, chances are, it’s me. ::grin::
The old advertising adage is the consumer has to see your name/product seven times for it to ‘stick.’ So getting your name and titles are there is important, IMHO.
~Linnea
I don’t think of promo items as a way to urge people to buy my books. I think of them as brand-building tools. Name recognition is the first step. Giving out branded items helps that. Tied into this is having a unified approach to the promotional items, if you use more than one.
Name recognition. Well, since one of you *kept* the keyboard sweeper and a handful more have emailed me asking for one, I guess I’m on my way to that most elusive of beasts: name recognition.
I like giving gifties to my readers. Be it pens, stickies, matchbooks & candles ...whatever I have as a promo item.
It’s always a good time on Planet Darragha. Maybe, with a pen or keyboard sweeper near by, recipients will remember my name when jonesing for a new book to read. If not next time, maybe the time after.
I use the except booklet/newsletter. (My printer does them for about 40-50c/each) I get an 8 page booklet, and I have a standard format, so the majority of each “Dispatch from the Den of Debauchery” is excerpts.
I also do matchbooks. They’re pretty inexpensive, and I give them away like candy.
As a reader: pens, bookmarks, key-chains and magnets. Replacements for things I lose a lot.
I agree that one can never have too many pens.
I also like bookmarks myself. And this may make the authors want to curl up and die, but I love them because they are expendable. My 3 year old tends to destroy my bookmarks and promo ones from my bookstore are easy replacements. But while I use one, I am noticing that author’s name and latest books. So they work as name recognition at the same time.
I love, love, love the idea of bookmarks with a series listed in order on them. Those I would keep and treasure and the 3 year old would be kept away from them. I am one of those anal people who has to read a series in order. Nothing drives me nuttier than going to an author’s website and finding they don’t have a list anywhere for me to know what order I should read the books. (Whereas, if they have one, they get lots of brownie points from me.)
Personally, I don’t really read exceprts as I prefer just to get on with reading the book that having a small piece of something.
But having said all that, it is about name recognition and warm, fuzzy feeling for me. Promo items on their own are unlikely to make me buy the book. My budget it tight and I tend to buy books from favourite authors or with good word of mouth. And the temptations provided by my pusher (ooops, I mean favourite bookseller).
One thing I’ve done that costs me only time and has been highly effective—I invite other writers onto my yahoo group for author days. This brings in a crowd of fans for that author, who are now suddenly members on my group as well.
In the last 12 months, my group has grown from 300 people to over 570. The more people in your group, the more exposure you have.
On MySpace, when I get a friend request, I always visit three of their friends and request an add. This gives me four friends every time I get one request. It’s perception—“look how many people are in her group and how many messages she has. She must be a good writer...”
My sales have tripled since last year as well.
I am a total pen whore.
So am I. But I’m spoiled so I only want the really, really good ones (e.g. wide gel pens with rubber grips). If I want a pen (or a box of ‘em), I make our admin assistant order it for me.
I’m pretty impervious to promotional items...for the most part I either don’t take them or give them away when I receive them. Bookmarks are an exception since they’re small, portable, and useful. A few people have suggested some extras to put on the bookmark to maximize their potential from the promotional point of view.
I wanted to add that Digimarc has a technology that allows one to get a person directly to a web-site (you scan or hold the printed item, e.g. bookmark, up to a web cam and the software does the rest of the work) which I think would be great for getting people to an excerpt of a story since printing costs for excerpts are undoubtedly prohibitive for most authors. Sometimes the thing you want people to see is buried away from the front page of the web site so using something that gets people directly to the point would be a great trick (and annoyance minimizer).
Oh, and apropos of nothing for this topic, but I found this post re: ComicCon quite interesting in light of the costuming discussion held here recently. NOT meant to stir it all up again, just found it an interesting observation...and one which sounded so familiar.
said on...Ya know, I don’t own any of these things put out by authors. Never even seen them that I can recall. But I do have tons of bookmarks put out by bookstores, some are kind of poignant because the bookstores were independants that eventually went out of business. But the bookmarks were excellent ways to put useful contact information like website, contact info, etc., without taking up a lot of room. Pens are useful to if they have the right stuff. Pamphlets get thrown away, so do flyers. The little brushes sound cool. I got a magnetic clip from a temp agency that I kept on my refrigerator for years. It lasted longer than the agency did. I think my point is that anything is good if it leads the reader to something better like a website is excellent.
Send me free stuff!
Desertwillow...I just emailed you. You want free stuff? I’m happy to oblige. I have lots of it.
Kayelle...agree that internet is a major asset to both authors & readers.
Shelly Laurenston...another author I got hooked on after reading an excerpt on her website.
Kayelle’s promo ideas rock! I’ve glommed onto her a time or two :)
Sometimes the thing you want people to see is buried away from the front page of the web site
If the thing you want people to see is buried away from the front page of the web site, you need to move it. Immediately.
Everything necessary to convince a reader she must have your most recent release should be on your home page. Cover, back cover copy, pub date, retail price, ISBN, review snippets, author blurbs, obvious READ THIS ENORMOUS EXCERPT link. Hell, make it easy to buy by providing links directly to its page at Amazon, B&N, Borders, and anyone else who sells the thing online in paper or e form. (Double hell, become affiliates with those sites and make an extra five cents or whatever off sales made through those links.)
Bury the “extras” away from the front page. Put the product front and center.
Yes, but I’m not a fan of homepages that are too busy.
I know the only promo stuff I’ve kept and used has been the tangible stuff, like pens, or a lipgloss. I tend not to use bookmarks (I’m one of those terrible people who folds pages or breaks spines), and the paper stuff I’ve picked up at the last few conferences is still in the bottom of my RWA bag.
However, when I went to the RNA conference this summer, I was using a tote bag a friend made up for me--one of those ones with the little plastic photo pockets? Each pocket had one of my covers and a review snippet in it. It got SO much attention. I also kept a stack of business cards on me, so if anyone expressed interest, I could give them a card.
Oh, and JuJu? Size 39 in Europe is pretty skinny. Pretend you’re French.
I kept the car air freshener I picked up at RT, but have I ever visited the site of the generous author who gave it away....no, sad to say. But at least I am enjoying using it. I also kept post-its, pens,lip balm, a few very clever buttons & the EC playing cards and calendar. But with overstuffed suitcases, all the rest went to the maid in my room.
Finally coming out of hiding because this is something that I’ve had multiple conversations about with a number of different people and we seem to share similar thoughts.
As a book buyer for an independent bookstore that does a booming business in genre fiction of all kinds, and on behalf of other buyers at other locations, I have to ask authors and publicists to please stop sending postcards. Every day in the mail I receive three to five postcards advertising books. Many times, these books have already been published and are on our shelves, so it’s a waste of money and trees. If we didn’t order the book in the first place, your postcard isn’t going to change our minds. Postcards may be great tools for reaching readers, but, to book buyers like myself, they’re just so much more junk mail.
What kind of giveaways do have an influence on my buying decisons? Not many. Excerpt booklets (as mentioned by several respondents already) are a great tool for us. There’s only so much that catalog copy can tell me, and having an excerpt helps me decide whether or not a book is something that we should carry. A great premise with clunky writing is still not a good book. The Penguin Press publishes excerpts of all of their titles right in the catalog. And Random House, when it launched its Mortalis mystery imprint did up little booklets with excerpts from all of the titles on their first list. Other things that might make me order a title I wouldn’t have otherwise are things that I’m going to keep at my desk and see every day. Coffee mugs, water bottles, post-its, notepads--all of these items are within my line of sight all the time. Putting your name or your book’s title on them causes them to worm their way into my brain so that little bells of recoginition start sounding when I’m doing my ordering. I listen to those little bells, figuring your name must be in my head for a reason, and since I’m not getting bad vibes from it, it must be a good reason.
Best giveaway ever, though? A few weeks ago I received a call from the assistant to a NYT best-selling mystery author to thank me for my support of said author’s books. We’ve always carried this author’s books, but I’ve never personally read any. After that phone call, though, that’s about to change. A one-minute phone call that probably cost less than a nickel has created for this author a new reader and a supportive bookseller all in one go.
My favorite piece of promo was one Jill Conner Browne gave out at a Sweet Potato Queen signing. I seem to be bringing her up a lot lately, but she really is a queen of promo. It was also very cheap: a little business card that said “Lick Me All Over 10 cents”, which was a “copy” of the card the Sweet Potato Queens carry around and give out, according to JCB’s books. (This card is the center of a hilarious chapter in the first SPQ book.)
Anyway...about the cheapest promo possible, since it’s a card, but everyone loved getting one. And you can bet if they passed it on it got the book talked about!
A final thought here...Library buying list? Can authors get themselves on it?
My local library is very well stocked, so new authors I’m unsure about I will usually check out of the Library first. Several authors now on my buy list, Lynn Flewelling & Faith Hunter, were library finds.
Let’s get fuckin’ real here.
Start by asking yourself, your very own self, what doodads and geegaws have ever, EVER convinced you to spend money on a book? Or an insurance policy? Or anything?
I’ve truly never understood how authors get suckered into this promo-trinket gig. I don’t care how snazzy the bookmarks/pens/contact-lens cases/edible underwear, etc. might look. The bottom line is, you, the promoter, are simply giving away something you paid for to a stranger who may or may not use it...and, in either case, doesn’t give a rat’s ass where it came from.
The host will never instill the parasite with a burning desire to engage in a symbiotic relationship.
Uh...no offense to you parasites. (Been there myself.)
So Wry Hag, I guess I shouldn’t expect a free pen from you, right?
You know, I do between 1-3 trade shows a year in the crafts industry, and our two best promo items were pens and calculators. Apparnatly people always leave their pens behind (which they need to write orders) and can always use a calculator (to add up how much they’ve overspent at the show).
For authors, what I would LOVE to see is a bookmark with a purpose. If you have a series of books, please put the book titles IN ORDER, with a helpful little check-box next to it. Even if it was business card size so it fit in my wallet would be good. Hell, include it with the book cover as a tear off, so that next time I go to the book store, I know exactly what title and author I’m looking for. I’ve never read any of Nora’s JD Robb novels because I don’t know where to start. And her website, the last time I looked, didn’t offer up that information.
Angie, that is really helpful information. Thank you for sharing it. I sure like the idea of a bookmark doing something worthwhile!
07.29.07 at 02:18 PM |