SWAG

Recently a book club wrote to me to tell me how much they were enjoying my book, Mer Si Raen Ambush and wanted to know if I had any SWAG I could send to them. The embarrassing answer was no. I had not considered that fans of the book would be asking for a way to commemorate the read for their members. But I assured them that I would get busy and put together some items right away.

Unfamiliar with SWAG for books, I wasn’t sure what people normally offered, beside a bookmark, but a little searching online turned up quite a few opportunities to give fans some items they could purchase, and items that they could download and I even came up with a way to give e-readers something too, in the form of a fan club card. I will sign and mail the cards to anyone who asks.

Not wanting to be caught empty handed a second time, I have been busy creating SWAG items for The Golgotha Covenant, my soon to be released vampire novel. I’m planning to offer desktop wallpapers, and some other assorted goodies.

If you need SWAG for your readers, there are several online resources that have a wide assortment of products.

Café Press
Vista Print
Zazzle
Spreadshirt
Redbubble

Most of these sites allow you to have your own store and sell your items to the general public as well as selling to your fans via your own site. Having graphic design skills is a plus, but if you are hiring your artist, you can arrange with them to provide you with images that you can use to create your SWAG.

Personally, I like to have free items for readers, like bookmarks, wallpapers and things of that nature. But T-shirts sound fun too, and heck, it’s free advertising for your book!