Finding Swag for the Bag, Part II

The swag for today's blog comes from the 2013 RWA National Conference. Nationals gave out a really great bag (which I'm realizing I don't have a photo of), but for the most part swag is put out on swag tables so people can grab what they want.

Check out the difference in items, just at first glance. 

Yes, there are some paper products, but not nearly as much as in the previous swag bag. As a result, we can look at items a little bit more closely and things don't get lost in the shuffle.

These are all items that caught my friend Celeste's eye. Something about these made her pause and pick them up. Maybe it was because they were different and she hadn't seen anything like it before. Maybe because it was a fun, cute idea. Maybe it's as simple as she liked the color...some of this is a crap shoot as we know. There are so many unique items that I'm going to try to post the photos with minimum commentary about each one...unless I need to explain what they are due to my poor photography skills.

RWA gave out these water bottles to all attendees. Great idea for the weekend in Atlanta. It's always smart to carry some water around with you during conferences. Who knows when you'll have a chance to get a drink.

Celtic Heart chapter had a party where they handed these buttons and badge ribbons out. I'm a sucker for anything in a kilt (as are so many readers), so these are particularly clever. And it always feels funny not having any ribbons on your badge when attending a conference. This is a fun way to include readers and get your name out there.

Two different styles of drink koozies. I really like this idea, particularly for the Western Themed (based on the logo) series. And with backyard BBQ season in full swing, this is a great swag idea.

 A stress ball. This little puppy is coming to the day job with me. A new take on an old classic...and no one else is doing it.

Trading card size magnets. She didn't grab a lot of these, but the few that caught her attention. I (being a conference chair) thought the magnet for the 2014 Spring Fling was a great way to advertise that conference.   The thing about these: they are all the same size & shape. Nothing really makes them stand out from one another.

 A pamphlet about an author and her series, but it includes a recipe in the back. Very cute. And, a spatula. I love this idea for a cooking series. This is something that will be kept and used again and again.

A couple different notepads. (The green heart one was on the tables during a meal, not at the swag table.)

 Colorful label flags (is that what they're called??) I use these all the time, so this will be on my desk.

 Tattoo sleeves, perfect for every Rock-n-Roll series. So fun. And the fact that the label is specialty made to fit the series is awesome.

a coin purse

bath tea

a paper coaster with a writing quote

bookmarks

I couldn't get good pics of these items. Pens, a USB drive, odd sized/shaped bookmarks.

the trading cards with little goodies attached to help them stand out a bit.

beach ball

Great idea and ties right in with her title.

 A glasses cleaning cloth. I'm always in need of these! The other side has her business card/trading card.

bracelets

I think this is a great idea for ebook authors. You can't give out free books, but what about a post card offering a free download? or coupon code. This was given out in the session the author gave to those that were interested.

teas and sachets

buttons

Really bad photo, sorry. Matches.

I hope these give authors some ideas for different ways to use their promo dollars and really help their name stand out from the crowd. If you see something on the table you want a closer look at, let me know. I've got the bag of goodies here and I'll do my best to get a better photo and post it. :-)

Are there any vendors that authors would recommend for promo materials? Any fun ideas?

Thanks for stopping by!

Where Are The Rea-...er, Authors?

It's a common phrase heard among writers. Where are the readers? I just want to find the readers. If I could get even a fraction of those readers.... You get the drift. The readers are out there. romance readers in particular are voracious and will read multiple books a month. I'm trying to remember where I read that the average romance reader will read between 5-7 books a month. Sometimes more.
That's huge! That's every author's dream demographic.

But I'm going to toss out a different question. Where are the authors? Where is my next 'auto-buy' author hiding? It's the second part of the equation that we authors generally overlook. With the explosion of e-books and self publishing we have literally thousands of books available to us. Even our favorite authors are putting out books that have long been out of print, or were never published in the first place, so we recognize the author but not the book.

And, frankly, it can be a bit overwhelming. How can we tell if we're going to like a new author? It's more difficult to loan books to our other reader friends and make suggestions. And some readers develop a personal relationship to an author (thank you social media) so it's not always safe to assume that they aren't on one of the ever growing street-teams authors are putting together, or that the author isn't their friend and that they really just think you'll like this book. Not that any of those things are bad things. Not at all. Just another part of the ever complex equation for readers and authors to find one another.

For my part-it's been a process of gathering friends that I trust when it comes to book recs. I've joined reader blogs and found some new favorites that way, I've talked to readers to figure out what they like to see if I'll like the same things. And I've needed to decide if reviews will factor into my decision about purchasing a new-to-me author.

What's worked for you when it comes to finding new authors?