I Want to be Swagalicious Part 2: So Where Do I Get Stuff?

Tip of the Day: Printrunner has free shipping right now until 3/31/10.

Thanks for all of your suggestions last week-- I think I'm on my way to being swagalicious. This week I've been researching where to get stuff and I thought hey, share the info with everyone else looking for swag!

Postcards

Why do I need them? Aside from sending them to absolutely every friend and family member and old teacher etc. that you know, send them to independent bookstores and teen librarians!

How do I get them? Vistaprint has some super awesome oversized postcards and here's the thing with Vistaprint-- they will send you e-mails numerous times a week offering you free stuff. LOTS of free stuff. Postcards are almost always on this list. You just pay the shipping. And if you're not in a hurry, choose the cheapest route. I just got some more free ones last week to send librarians-- aren't they cute?

Bookmarks

I already wrote a completely brilliant ;) post on bookmarks and I still love them so read here.

Buttons

Why do I need them? Cuz' they're cute. Really, they're completely optional giveaways. See the totally cute ones I got from Tera Lynn Childs:

How do I get them? Busy Beaver has totally reasonable prices. Check them out.

Stickers

Why do I need them? Why not? ;-)

How do I get them? I am about to order 1000 cuuuuuute stickers for Espressologist for $57 at printrunner.com (and like the TOD says, free shipping!). Still contemplating a Fake Boyfriend sticker but I'll order those too when I come up with something. In the mean time, check out Carrie Ryan's cute sticker for her new book:

Temporary Tattoos

Why do I need them? Cuz they're swagalicious. And who doesn't love putting something on their skin that takes a good 3-4 baths to get off?

How do I get them? Check out Tattoosales or Branders for deals.

Gel Bracelets

Why do I need them? I actually don't think I do. But I see them a lot at events so I'll include the info!

How do I get them? Here's a really cute place!

Other Stuff

I'm going to add one more tip that I got from Mandy Hubbard. Check wedding favor sites! Mandy got super cute lip glosses with her book title Prada & Prejudice on it. Check out this site, Beau Coup. They have everything from fortune cookies to poker chips to mini candles. Cute!

Kristina, Miss See Me on the Shelves

I Want to be Swagalicious

Tip of the Day: Check it out, Alice Pope has me as her debut author of the month!

I need good swag. I hadn't thought about general swag too much before last weekend. Sure I had fun stuff for my launch party and I always have bookmarks at each event. But I need some cute, fun swag. Let me tell you why I suddenly feel like this. Last weekend I went to an author fair in a nearby town. SO much fun! It was in a big library and there were tons of authors there. Each author had their own table to set up their display.

PANIC.

What display? I have one book out, I have a galley of the next, and bookmarks. Oh, and I had a few fliers on me too. But that's it. Uh-oh. I looked around and other authors had fancy matching table cloths and props and games and stickers and lots of general cute fun stuff to giveaway. Kristin Walker and I sized up the table and begged to sit together. Maybe our stuff together would look full enough.

















And it turned out ok-- the fair was a blast and lots and lots of teens came through and stopped to chat. A number of them bought books but everyone wanted swag. So now I'm on a mission for next time. I need good swag! Does anyone have ideas? I want to get My Fake Boyfriend is Better Than Yours stuff. Aside from literally giving out fake boyfriends (could you imagine pulling that off?) I'm not sure what to do. What kind of swag have you picked up at author events that you liked? Remembered? Used?

Kristina, Miss See Me on the Shelves