For book/ebook authors, publishers, & self-publishers

GIVE ME FREEBIES!

I was just on a marketing panel at Killer Nashville. One of the panelists pooh-poohed the whole idea of little marketing give-aways. Heck, I love them and love coming up with something creative. Mine usually center around food: miniature boxes of raisins because my books are set in the Fresno area, Raisin Capitol of the World. I also ordered fortune cookies from Oriental Traders with my name and book title as the fortune because a fortune cookies is a clue in FOOLS RUSH IN. The next book, WHERE ANGELS FEAR, has a bottle of heart pills as a clue. I got prescription bottles, ordered labels with my book cover and my name, and filled the bottles with candy hearts or red hots. My advice to the audience? "Plant something in your novel that you can use as a promotional item in the future." As for the skeptic on the panel, just remember--we don't buy Cracker Jacks for the stale popcorn. We want the prize inside!