Sunday, March 1, 2015

Author Swag - The 'Swag' in the bag

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OK, so what Swag goes in the bag...
Anything you dang well want is how I see it.

The above picture is from the 2013 Oscars.

Ok, so most of us are not going to give away a bathing suit or velour robe, but as you see in the pic, there's nothing saying you cannot.

For my swag bag, I had very little author 'branding' supplies on hand.
I.E. Bookmarks, one of my books, pens with my website engraved on them, ect.

So what did I do ...
I went shopping. Now I have a budget I have to stay within, so don't let your swag break you. Just like any budget, STAY within it!!

My Swag included - 
* A leather bound journal
* A Yankee Candle Votive with a cute little votive holder
* A Yankee Candle air freshener
* Lindt Lindor Chocolates (3 kinds)
* Dove Chocolates (3 kinds)
* My business card - Autographed, One placed outside the journal held on by the band used to keep it shut and another placed in between one of the pages of the journal. (Just in case the other was misplaced ;-) )

What other authors had in their's:
- Bottle of Wine
- Their book - Autographed
- Chocolate, Mints & other candies
- Bookmarks
- Mug w/author book cover
- Tumbler w/author book cover
- Candle
- Another author's book from their publishing house in w/theirs
- Pens w/author's name
- Post cards w/author books, signed, blurbs, ect
- Gift card (visa & to a coffee house, Starbucks or Dunkin)

So you see it's what ever you would like to put in the bag that makes it special.

The guest who picked my bag told me the reason she did so, was because the 'journal' caught her attention and it was something she'd like.

Just remember to put some author branding in there as well that points would be readers to you ...
Anything with your name and website on it.

So what have I done to make sure I'm not caught off guard again.
I've ordered two of my books from my publisher, 
I've looked around for the best prices on pens, pencils, sticky note pads, ect...anything I can put my name and website on.

I mentioned some sites during my first blog about Author Swag named - Business Cards & Bookmarks.

Here they are again ...
 Remember some of these sites do more than paper, like pens, mugs, ect...

(They also do book marks.)
It took me a bit of searching on zazzle but if you type in...Author business cards, it should bring you to what you're looking for.


(They do plastic business cards and they look pretty dang neat too.)

(They do all paper products including booklets, flyers ect)

Other Swag - 






The possibilities are endless. If you have an idea of what you want in your bag = Google it. See if it can be 'personalized'

Wedding sites can be helpful as well. I remembered that when I was looking for items to include in the gift bags I made up for the attendees of my wedding, there were a lot of possibilities out there and some sites have items that 'can' be used for other events than weddings. ;-)


Hope this helped!!  


C. A. Salo
Erotic and Spicy Stories of Romance

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