Swag

It is better to give than to receive. Indeed it is, when it’s swag, freebies, giveaways to people who come to see my book events or my panels at any number of mystery fan conventions I have attended over the years, including some tables at the banquets where people signed up to sit there and listen to me natter on. Don’t you deserve something for that?

From my very first release out of the chute way back in 2008 for my Crispin Guest Medieval Noir series, I started with the giveaways. You have to think of something that will be memorable, something the reader might use, like a pen, or just pin up to their wall or bookshelf. Oriental Trading was my go-to for inexpensive giveaways, but since everything there comes from China, that may not be practical in the short run.

So I gave away sword pens. No one else was doing it. I kept buying and buying them, and if you are one of the lucky ones to have gotten them from me keep hold of them. They are collector’s items because you cannot buy them anymore.

But I also wanted something else for browsers to walk away with, so rubber duckies was also my thing. They made rubber duckies for just about everything, so I gave away knight duckies.

But of course, there also had to be raffle items, things that cost a little more and so it had to be the luck of the draw to win them with my FREE raffle (hey, they are coming to my party and buying my book. I didn’t think it was fair to dig into their pockets completely by making them pay for raffle tickets).

At first, I made baskets with cool medievally stuff in them, but after a while, I didn’t feel that people liked them as much (I could barely give them away at conventions) so I stopped doing that and came up with other gift things. And so I got these little tin boxes made, pocket size, filled with Jelly Belly Beans. As you can see, I used them for several different books so they’d be a remembrance of the different books readers bought.

Since the Crispin series lasted for 15 books, I had a lot of swag to come up with. So I found this fellow on Etsy who made resin copies of his carved mice, bishop mice, king mice, lute-playing mice, psaltery-playing mice…you get the idea. And those were popular giveaways.

Below is my table at a Left Coast Crime Convention. At the table we had a castle centerpiece with the books to give to my tablemates, but they also got goblets to drink wine out of, a crown to wear, and a bag of little items. I didn’t mess around.

And below you can see the variety of knight duckies you could choose from. For this particular book, I gave away a charm bracelet that I put together. When you took your ticket, you put one half into the cauldron so I could later pull out the winning ticket.

My Booke of the Hidden series was next, a paranormal romance in a contemporary setting in Maine. I chose unconventional locations, like The Cauldron in Buena Park, just one street away from Knott’s Berry Farm. And at the Mystic Museum in Burbank for the other books in the series. A fun, creepy locale for my readers. I gave away broom pens and I made these eye-popping ghostly white chocolate pretzels for that.

The spin-off series for Booke of the Hidden was my Werewolf Mystery series Moonriser, and everyone got wolf ears for that. This was during Covid, so unfortunately, the launch had to be cancelled, but folks sent me pictures with their wolf ears that I mailed to them. As well as a WereJeff cuddly toy to win at the raffle (he’s got a six-pack. I love it!)

I moved on to the Enchanter Chronicles, my gaslamp-steampunk series. And could you believe it? There were absolutely no steampunk duckies. So I made some myself. These became raffle items.

And another giveaway item was one of my favorite ones I made, the Steampunkin. It was as fun to make as to giveaway.

We moved into the era of my most recent books, the Tudor mystery, the King’s Fool series, so I had to find jester ducks.

These are jester squirters. You fill them with water, squeeze, and it shoots out of his mouth. Charming.

And this is Nosewise his dog. They were given away in a little gift bag at one of my ticketed events, along with other goodies. He’s small. I’m sure he’ll show up as freebies to take at the next King’s Fool Book Events.

Above, I am at Book Carnival in Orange, and I am raffling off t-shirts I got made. And wearing the jester hair bands I gave away. It is remarkable to me how much adults love to wear those things to get into the party mood.

And book bags. These are now my go-tos for giveaways to those who make a purchase.

With my Sherlockian series, An Irregular Detective Mystery, I have Sherlockian gifts to raffle. Deerstalkers, plushie gifts, t-shirts, and free book bags for those who purchase, while they last!

Below, for the second book, I also gave away for those who strolled by, mummy gummies, my favorite thing to say.

On the left, those are Rice Krispie Treats with edible printed frosting of the book covers. Those were also giveaways and went fast. People just don’t expect that level of detail, and I think, if you are giving them an experience, it is something easy and not too expensive to do.

And the t-shirt I designed is pretty fun. There will be more of those. And my fave raffle giveaways are the Sherlockian Badgers I made. I first designed the thing in polymer clay and got them 3D printed, and then I painted them. They are really fun and you can’t buy them. They have to be won in one of my raffles, either in person, or at my online YouTube party.

The important thing to remember about swag is to not spend too much money on them. You don’t want to impoverish yourself doing these giveaways. Frankly, I don’t know what these authors are doing giving away Kindles and Amazon gift cards. Nice, but you do want to make a profit, too. The things I make, I think, are the most worthwhile. But measure your readers to see what makes their eyes light up at your events…and what doesn’t. Something unique that they can’t really find anywhere else is the ticket, for me. That’s what, hopefully, brings them back for more. More books, more swag.