I’ve spent an inordinate amount of time and more money than I intended on author swag. What is author swag? It’s the items authors produce and give away to promote their books. Before I embarked on my journey into swag, I had no idea how many options there were and how complicated it could all become.

There are evil websites that lure you in by advertising an item for .30. After you spend forty minutes designing the perfect piece of swag that will make everyone remember your name and create book-lust on sight, you   click the order button only to discover that you must order at least 500 of those suckers or they cost you $2.50 a piece.

There are sites that allow you to order fewer items. I had good luck with  Oriental Trading. They have a ton of personalizable items which are intended for weddings or birthdays. Since I don’t have my book cover yet, I used a tattoo which I paid a graphic artist to design for my main character. Here are the results.

I submitted this swag to Entangled Publishing to be included in swag baskets, so I didn’t actually see anyone’s reaction, but those I showed in person made positive comments.

I’m attending UtopYA in June, and I needed some portable, lightweight swag I could take on a plane. I searched far and wide for something that I’d actually want if someone was handing it out. Have I mentioned that I have a lip balm addiction? The only major kink in shopping for lip balm swag was that most lip products contain aloe, which makes me break out in hives. Yes, I know to the rest of the world aloe is soothing and has magical healing properties, to me it’s a vile poisonous weed.

Once I managed to purchase aloe-free lip balm, I fiddled around with my leftover labels from Oriental Trading. Here are the results.

Now, I needed another type of swag to set out on the half of a table I reserved for Friday night of UtopYA. Vistaprint is where I created my business cards. I discovered I could create business card sized magnets. At first they seemed a little pricey, but I learned that once you create something they will email you coupons to encourage you to buy. So I bought magnets and a banner at 40% off. Another cool thing about Vistaprint, is they take your design and show you what it looks like on other products. You can also pin your prototypes to Pinterest.

That’s my tale of swag. What’s your swag story?