Excellent recipes in yesterday’s comments section. I’ll start baking this weekend and will let you know how they turn out.
Today is suddenly crammed with Family Obligations. I am printing out my draft in case I can snatch a few quiet moments with it in the car.
Today’s question has to do with my TWISTED book tour, which takes place at the end of March. (Details will be posted as soon as they are available.)
I would like to give some swag (i.e. small gifts) to the hearty souls who come out to see me on the book tour. If you go the Academy Awards, your swag might include a new watch or iPod. I have three kids in college and another in braces, so that won’t be happening. My swag has to be a) cheap, and b) small because I’ll be lugging it around in my suitcase to about ten cities.
Some authors give out signed post cards with their book’s cover on it. Or bookmarks. These ideas do not excite me. I have thought of a couple of things, but your collective mind is much more clever than mine, so I ask you, faithful readers: what do you really want? And what do you want that I can realistically provide?
There are personalized pencils you can get from various companies. Here’s one :
http://www.orientaltrading.com/application?namespace=browse&origin=searchMain.jsp&event=link.itemDetails&demandPrefix=12&sku=47/362&mode=Searching&erec=0&D=pencils&Ntt=pencils&Ntk=all&Dx=mode%252bmatchallpartial&Ntx=mode%252bmatchallpartial&y=0&N=0&x=0&sd=PENCIL+ASSORTMENT
They tie in well with the theme of reading and writing, they’re small and easy to carry, and they are original!
You’d probably have to talk to Uncle Penguin about this, and it might be too much hassle, but I think it would be cool to have a mix CD with 5-6 songs that you listened to during the book or that were, for you, protagonist theme songs.
Uncle Penguin sounds like he wears a monocle.
And he will probably frown on this idea as “copyright infringement” or “way too expensive” – at least, that’s what he said when I wanted to do this for Sarah Dessen’s event.
Still, you could print up a little set list and make an iMix for it – maybe have a raffle for a copy of the CD or an iTunes gift cert – but you can’t make, like, 100 CDs.
If you could hand out twisty pencils like those on the cover of the book, it’d be a great tie-in. Not that I know where twisty pencils come from, or whether it’d be appropriate to the content of the book.
Those cool, SMALL buttons with some sort of design from the book or “I met Laurie Halse Anderson” or something silly like that on them. (Disclaimer, not a teen, but i’ve seen alot of the little buttons coming from comic conventions and rock concerts.)
Well, the one good thing about postcards, you can sign them for kids who can’t afford the book or whatever. Oh, and you can put your web address on them & myspace, which is cool.
But other than that, yes, really, they suck.
My suggestion is, find out if your publicity people are already having schwag made first. Then, if they say no, or if you think of something genius, you:
a) HAVE PENGUIN PAY FOR IT
b) ship it to the bookstores in advance
But if you don’t, no worries on at least one night – NYMBC events are famously schwag-heavy, so even if you don’t have anything made, we’ll have stuff to give out.
oh, and if you decide on the mini-buttons, I always get mine made at cafepress – they’re less than a dollar each, they come in packs of 10 or 100, and the way it looks on screen is generally exactly how it looks on the button. Cute!
(I’m making mini buttons for my teen cousins for christmas, and I make them for events all the time. they are always a hit – if they’re cute.)
(but please tell me if you are gonna make them, because if you don’t, I probably will!)
I would be happy with a hug. But buttons are pretty kickass too.
I don’t know why this is, but from my perspective, ANYTHING is way cooler when it’s on a sticker. It’s convenient, ’cause I can stick it on things, but it’s also just nifty. Either bumper-sticker size or smallish “A+ paper” size works best. It could be a TWISTED book cover sticker, or a sticker with a cartoon image of you and LAURIE HALSE ANDERSON ROCKS, or anything really.
I was going to say stickers too! They are the way to go. I am certainly not a teen but I love to cover my datebook with fn stickers!
Have you browsed Cafepress.com? My wife bought a Christmas ornament through them for her sister which has on it a photo of their father when he was a boy. Not that that particular example would be seasonal in March, but they might have some things they’d print with a quote or design you came up with.
I like the idea of the playlist CD of songs people align with your earlier books, such as ‘Speak’ and ‘Catalyst’.
Little buttons I like, or stickers. And candy always is good. This might be expensive, but I know you can get personalized M&Ms, which could be way cool. 🙂
I’d say the buttons or stickers. Maybe with a quote from the book or something. That would be cool.
swag
How about a twisted pencil with the book title on it?
I’d have to say a button set with the covers of your books on them. Have four, one for each (“Speak”, “Catalyst”, “Prom”, and “Twisted”). I talked with this lady who made them once, and they don’t cost much money at all.
I want a button…:(
Buttons. Definately. Everyone loves buttons. They put them on their bags and stuff…well, that’s what I would do. I’m always rading the button bucket at Hot Topic. Buttons are awesome.
Buttons are cool, but so are temporary tattoos and they are very, very cheap and don’t weigh much. Happy choosing!
swag suggestions?!?!
-stickers reading “LAURIE ROX MY SOCKS”
-locks of your hair (ha. no.)
-antique lint
-FUDGE BROWNIES =)
sorry for stupid suggestions. i’m sure you’ll find something good.