Swag

 By Marcy Kennedy, @MarcyKennedy

Part of the Indie Author Series

Over the last two months we’ve looked at writing a tag line for our books and writing our book description that goes up on retailers and on the back of our book.

This month we’re going to talk swag. Swag is physical items related to our book/series. It could be bookmarks and postcards, mugs or magnets with our book cover on it, or even jewelry based on something worn by our characters.

Authors sometimes confuse swag with things like candy that many also hand out when doing book signings or attending conferences. The defining quality of swag is that it’s a “permanent” physical product and it’s directly related to our books in some way. So candy with a custom wrapper doesn’t really qualify. People will eat the candy and throw the wrapper away. It won’t be something others see and comment on. Disposable items usually aren’t a good investment.I polled a few other authors for this post to see what’s worked for them when it comes to swag and what sites they like the best.

The secret to what swag works seems to be know your personal business model.

For authors who want to be able to quickly adapt, swag can be a bad idea because it leaves you with a lot of outdated products.

“I have not done bookmarks for a very long time,” said multi-genre author Pauline Baird Jones. “Because I need to be nimble and flexible, my covers sometimes change, so then I lose the money spent on bookmarks. I think bookmarks work better for authors who do a lot of events, such as signings. Most of my sales are online, so it’s not cost effective for me to do a lot.”

However, for authors who’ve built up a street team to help them spread the word or who want to do launch events, swag can be a great way to build audience excitement.