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To access the outline from Bianca's 2009 RT workshop, click here. Blog Post Series About Blogging:
For those of you who attended the Romantic Times Conference, what follows here is some of the information from the workshop I presented there. For those of you coming to this page by chance, welcome! Below are some of the things I've done to make those limited promotion dollars stretch as far as possible. Some are things that many of us do, some are things I dreamed up myself, but all are things you can do with just a few common tools and perhaps a little knowledge of computer graphics. If you don't have graphics knowledge though, rest assured, there are lots of designers out there who do, and many offer design services at reasonable prices. So without further ado... Here are some ideas for promotion that might just work for you!  Tools every frugal promoter should have:
Magnets Can't afford to buy hundreds of business card magnets - or have an odd shape you want to become a magnet? Print them on card stock or have them printed on postcards, cut them out, and use instant glue to adhere a small piece of magnet to the back side. *Tip: Don't use white glue or other kinds of water-soluable glue, as they will cause the paper to pucker and look nasty. Favors Ever gone to a wedding or party and liked the favors? Some of these kinds of items can be used as giveaways at your bookstore or author signing. Candy-filled organza bags with your business card attached are nice, as are little boxes with candy or other items like bath salts, bath fizzies, scented candles or anything else you can dream up. *Tip: Wait for after-holiday sales to stock up on individually wrapped candies. Valentine's Day is the best for romance-themed stuff, of course, but other holidays can work too. Easter candies are usually wrapped in pastel wrappers, which can look nice, and Halloween candy is great for paranormal authors and books! Bookmarks There are multiple choices for bookmarks - paper, ribbon, beaded, etc. All are good and can be done quite easily by most people with some basic computer or crafting skills. Paper bookmarks are easy to have printed by a professional printer. If you can't afford to have a few thousand printed for a few hundred bucks, or need smaller quantities, there are options. One is to create an image with two or even three bookmarks printed on one postcard - either standard size or oversized. The exact dimensions are up to you. I usually do two per card in both sizes and just have some that are larger than others for different applications. For example, the larger size are great to hand to people and will fit more of the blurb and art. The smaller size are cheaper to mail if I decide to do a mailing to a bookstore or to my mailing list. Most online printing places will provide basic templates for their post cards. I often use VistaPrint and they have templates for standard postcards and oversized postcards. I'm linking you to a vertical template that I've saved as a JPG file for ease of viewing, but you'll probably need to download a fresh copy of the templates from the VistaPrint site. You can choose from a variety of formats - I use the PSD version, which is usable in both Photoshop and Paint Shop Pro. You might also use the horizontal templates they provide, if you want to do three or four bookmarks on an oversized card a la Stella Price. I've seen her do this and it works really well. *Tip: Many online print providers have their own templates available for download, so decide on which printer you want to use first, then create your design using their templates. Ribbon and beaded bookmarks are more complex and somewhat time-consuming to make, but they do get attention. They're great for individual giveaways or prizes if they're really fancy. To make these, the most important thing is to pick the right size bead for the right size thread/ribbon. The circumfrence of the bead doesn't matter as much as the diameter of the hole. Do yourself a favor and take a sample of the thread/ribbon with you to the craft store and see if you can find a bead that works both color/style-wise and has the right size hole for the material you want to put through it. A little trial and error may be in order, but once you find a formula that works, you're all set.
There are so many choices for book buying nowadays, it's hard to build customer loyalty. Sometimes it's the “extras” that can set your store apart from the rest. Ultimately you want to give customers a reason to get into the car and drive to your book store - or if you have an online presence, to choose your shop over a competitor. Following is a quick list of things that can help set you apart:
When I was a kid, maybe five years of age, I LOVED going to the bank. Why? Because they gave out lollipops! It's horrible to say, but if you want the parents to come back to your store, it might be politic to give something to the kidlets. Lollipops still work, but I think balloons are better. You can have balloons printed with your store name/address on them very inexpensively. All you need then is a helium tank, and you're in business. Stickers are good too. Doesn't Wal*Mart have little smiley face stickers for the kids? If it works for them, it could easily work for you too. Another thing to do to acquire promo items for your store is to interface with authors on their websites or through their programs for booksellers and book clubs. More and more authors are doing this. They'll have a contact address on their websites for booksellers, groups and clubs to receive free promo materials. I do this and the bookstores I deal with all tell me they appreciate the free items I send them for their customers. In my Perks program, for example, I will send out free goodies to patrons who pre-order my books from participating book shops. I will also send the stores bookmarks, signed bookplates, T-shirts and other goodies that they can give away as incentives to their customers. I'm not the only author doing this, but you may have to invest a little time searching the web to find out how to sign up for your favorite author's list, if he/she has one. It's worth the effort if it nets you free promo items you can pass on to your readers. General Print Design Tips
Always begin any design at 300dpi (dots per inch) resolution. You will need at least 300dpi for anything that will be professionally printed. (Lower resolutions will print fuzzy.) You can always resize the image at 72 or 96dpi for use on the internet. You don't want to use a large 300dpi file on your website because it will slow down loading time - particularly for those on slower connections - and most monitors can't show any resolution higher than 72 or 96dpi anyway, so the extra sharpness is lost. It'll look just fine at 72 or 96 and load reasonably fast so your users don't get annoyed and leave your "slow" loading site. Take the time to learn how to use Photoshop or Paint Shop Pro (or any of the other good design programs). There is a terrific Delphi Forum called GraphX Anonymous that offers free classes in Paint Shop Pro. I'm sure there are other tutorials and classes out there for other programs as well. If you aren't computer literate yourself, hire someone who is. Most college kids nowadays have some familiarity with this kind of thing and will work for pizza. Check out local college art departments to find hungry students to help you out if you can't afford an old pro. Online Resources
Buttons
Printers
Matches
Novelties
Balloons
Stickers
Bath Products
Send me your links if you have a good resource to add to this list. This is a work in progress, so please help me make it better by adding your input! Email me at: biancadarc at gmail.com |
