Colleen Houck On Creating Swag That Works

Most authors will agree that the creative part of the job is where we excel, the business and marketing side, slightly less. It’s lovely when the two can meet in the form of SWAG – Shit We All Generate. I’ve invited some published authors to share with us their secret to swag… little freebies that can sell a book longer after the author is no longer standing in front of a prospective reader. In order to create great swag, you have to be crafty – in more ways than one.

Today's guest for the SWAG is Colleen Houck, whose New York Times bestselling Tiger’s Curse series has received national praise. Colleen is a lifelong reader whose literary interests include action, adventure, science fiction, and romance. Formerly a student at the University of Arizona, she has worked as a nationally certified American Sign Language interpreter for seventeen years. Colleen lives in Salem, Oregon, with her husband and a huge assortment of plush tigers.

Finding something that represents your book and hasn’t been played out by a million authors before is difficult. What’s your swag?

It depends on the book. I have a standard swag bag that I give out at events and at school visits. These contain the following…

• A button or pin I have purchased on Etsy. Some are of my book covers, some are just fun things for readers. Kids LOVE these. This store makes custom buttons as well as groups for various categories.

• I add whatever bookmarks my publishing house gives me until I run out. I always ask them for the file so I can print more if I want to. If they don’t make bookmarks then I ask them if they will make them if I print them. Often the answer is yes. When the answer was no, I asked my agent and his team made them.

• I also put a piece of Ghirardelli chocolate inside and match the flavor/wrapper color with my book cover and then put a book sticker on top. An example of this is a Pumpkin Caramel Square  with a sticker of The Lantern’s Ember.

• There’s a reading sampler of one of my books. My publisher made a certain number and when I told them I was doing school visits, they produced more. After they were done, I asked for the file and printed more on my own.

• There are one or two free ebook download cards. These are of my self-published novellas. Publishers might not agree to this for as many as I use, but it doesn’t hurt to ask.

• Next, I add my personal business cards

• And a YA Scavenger Hunt card

• These items all fit perfectly into paper gift bags like these I bought a design that went well with my books.

Right now, I’m working on a pre-launch party with VIP swag bags. They are getting a variety of nice things including a tiger bracelet, a cobra ring, a stuffed white tiger, a stuffed black tiger, animal crackers, a custom tote, a tiger striped scarf, a water bottle, Hoyle black tiger playing cards, and a rubber bracelet. Note: This is a paid event so I’m spending more than I normally would.

I love doing jewelry to match my books and if you shop on Etsy or Ebay you can find almost anything or someone willing to make it at a reasonable price.

I’ve done custom perfumes before, but they are expensive and messy and don’t travel well.

How much money per piece did your swag cost out of pocket?

It depends on the item. I have now become an expert on cheap. I shop at the dollar store and Oriental Trading. I check bargain bins. I find bulk items on the internet. If you’re looking for jewelry, there are lots of options on Ebay for $1.00 each or less. But be aware that most of these items ship from China and they take a month or longer to hit the states. For special swag bags I like to shop for playing cards that match my book theme. They run between $3.00-$5.00 per deck for the specialty types if you buy in bulk.

For my standard school visit swag bags, the cost for each runs about $1.25. Most of the cost is the reading sampler.

At events, I put together swag bag giveaways with a larger bag that matches the color of the book cover and then everything inside matches that color too. I can usually find a lipstick or an eyeshadow, then a nail polish, candy, lotion, popcorn, or a scarf. Usually each bag runs about $10.00 and I do a raffle. They sign up for my newsletter for a chance to win.

Do you find that swag helps you stand out at an event? Does your swag draw people to your table at an event or conference?

I don’t know that anyone approaches because of swag but if they come up and talk to me or attend one of my panels, my standard swag bags have enough information for them to find me easily and get a taste of my writing. Having the chocolate in there is key. After I mention that, everyone wants a bag to take home. I’ve noticed that most authors just set out bookmarks on the panel table. Having a box of swag stuffed bags in the back for them to pick up as they leave works really well.

What do you think of big item swag pieces versus cheaper, yet more easily discarded swag like bookmarks?

I have bookmarks I picked up at a conference that I still use today, but at big book conferences there are way too many bookmarks to stand out and most of them end up being tossed. Any swag, big or small, will always make more of an impact if you are the only author in the room. Having said that, you should always have something to give an interested reader. I’d recommend a stylish business card featuring your books. Beth Revis has an awesome information card that folds like a book. It has pictures of her books, a nice blurb, and her contact info. I think readers are more likely to keep that than a bookmark. As far as big swag items, I save these for my loyal fans as a sort of a reward for supporting me or coming to my event. I don’t think you need to spend your dollars offering large incentives to new readers. 

What’s the most clever / best swag by another author?

I think the best swag should tell you something about the book. I’ve seen an author who writes westerns give out little cowboy hats. Amy Plum had an Eiffel tower she gave that matched her book based in France. Once I spotted a vampire neckband to go with a vampire series. I’ve seen a mermaid book clip to match a mermaid book. Those types of swag aren’t cheap but they’re memorable and if mermaids are your thing, you’ll have a piece of swag you will keep as well as a potential new author to love. At big book conferences, these are the items that make you stand out.

And the biggest question – do you think swag helps sell books?

I absolutely believe in having some sort of basic swag. But don’t break the bank! Decide what your annual marketing budget is, set aside the funds, and then break it down into categories. Some money you might use for ads just to remind those who already like you to buy your next book, but other monies should be set aside to find new readers, and other money to attend conferences. It’s tempting to go beyond. I’ve done it and regretted it later. Always ask yourself, “What would I want or expect as a reader being introduced to an author?” Then let your expectations guide you.

Kelly Coon On Being Rejected 106 Times... Followed By A "Yes."

If there's one thing that many aspiring writers have few clues about, it's the submission process. There are good reasons for that; authors aren't exactly encouraged to talk in detail about our own submission experiences, and - just like agent hunting - everyone's story is different. I managed to cobble together a few non-specific questions that some debut authors have agreed to answer (bless them). And so I bring you the submission interview series - Submission Hell - It's True. Yes, it's the SHIT.

Today's guest for the SHIT (Submission Hell, It's True) is Kelly Coon, author of GRAVEMAIDENS, which  recounts the tale of a 16-year-old healer's apprentice who must save a dying Sumerian king or her little sister will be buried alive to serve him in the Netherworld.

Kelly Coon is the mom to three little boys and a rescue pup who will steal your sandwich. She always knew she loved writing. She crafted retellings of Old Testament stories she heard as a kid in church, putting them in modern settings with female protagonists, much to the annoyance of her Sunday school teachers. She is now a young adult author represented by Kari Sutherland of Bradford Literary. Her debut YA fantasy, GRAVEMAIDENS, is being published in the fall of 2019 by Delacorte/Penguin Random House, with the sequel forthcoming in 2020. She loves editing for Blue Ocean Brain, reading books in carline to pick up her kids, cooking stuff her kids won't eat, and rabble-rousing.

How much did you know about the submission process before you were out on subs yourself?

My agent, Kari Sutherland of Bradford Literary, was incredibly thorough with me. She explained what the process would be and what we'd do at each stage of being on sub. Before her info, though, I had almost NO idea what going out on submission would be like. I didn't even know what "on submission" meant a few months before! Another author friend of mine added me to an "On Submission" Facebook group and I was like, "Why? What's this about?" 

Did anything about the process surprise you? 

I was shocked by how quickly we got feedback. We officially went on submission mid-October of 2017 and within a couple days, we had some interest from a couple agents. But, my agent had soft-pitched a few editors in NYC after the Writer's Digest Conference, so a few who received them had already had some time to kind of think about the premise. But, I was absolutely floored when Kari emailed me to tell me a couple were already expressing their excitement about it.  

Did you research the editors you knew had your ms? Do you recommend doing that?

I absolutely researched every single editor who had my ms, but not before Kari sent it out. She made the choices as to whom to send the ms, but after she sent me the list, I looked each of them up on Publisher's Marketplace to view purchases and comp titles. I also, (of course), semi-stalked them on Twitter.  I highly recommend doing that (the researching, not necessarily the stalking.) ;-) If you get into a situation like mine, where there are several editors interested, knowing their tastes is helpful if you are as blessed as I was to be able to choose. 

What was the average amount of time it took to hear back from editors?

I was in the very small minority of authors who get almost immediate feedback. I think the fact that Kari had soft-pitched some editors prior to sending it over meant they were already interested! We went on sub in early October and I had a two-book, six-figure deal in my hand on November 2 in a preempt*. 

I received a phone call from my agent on Halloween morning. She told me that Delacorte had emailed her to tell her they were sending over an offer. The next day, we had an offer in hand and I very nearly lost my marbles. However, Kari knew that three other editors were interested, so we didn't simply accept the deal. In fact, Harper Teen was taking the book to acquisitions the next week, and had asked us to wait for them so they could put together an offer. So, Kari pushed back on the Delacorte offer, saying that in order to take it off the table, they'd need to up the advance and make it a two-book deal. Had Delacorte not agreed to those terms, we would have gone to auction, where the editors would bid for the rights to the ms and a sequel. 

*For those of you who don't know what a preempt means—and no shame, I had no idea either until my agent was screaming about it in my ear—it means that an editor gives you an incredible offer and a ticking clock so they can sweep the deal off the table before other editors get the chance to make offers. That way, they don't end up bidding over it in an auction. 

What do you think is the best way for an author out on submission to deal with the anxiety?

I didn't have a long time to wait, but I HAVE been neck-deep in the emotional turmoil of waiting for agents to return my emails and that is excruciating. (For the record, I've been rejected 106 times by agents over ten years through four different books. I know what waiting is like!) 

But during the sub process for this ms, Kari updated me frequently via email regarding which editors were reading it and who had expressed early interest. That information helped stem the nerves a lot. Another thing that helped was getting busy on another project. I started brainstorming a new series and a short story related to the ms on submission. 

If you had any rejections, how did you deal with that emotionally? How did this kind of rejection compare to query rejections?

I did get a couple rejections on this ms within a few days of letting them know we had an offer, and I asked Kari not to share any negative feedback unless it was helpful. To date, I have no idea why the ones who weren't interested didn't want the ms, and for me, emotionally, that was the best way to go. 

I refused to let the rejections get to me because I've learned through the long, horrible process of agent querying that some books aren't some people's cups of tea. Every book I love has at least half a dozen 1-star reviews on Goodreads. Sometimes, "It isn't you; it's me," is true. 

If you got feedback on a rejection, how did you process it? How do you compare processing an editor’s feedback as compared to a beta reader’s?

See above. I didn't accept any rejection feedback unless it was helpful, and since Kari hasn't sent any of it to me, I assume none of it was helpful. =) 

When you got your YES! how did that feel? How did you find out – email, telephone, smoke signal?

Oh gosh. I wrote a whole story about getting that call and posted it on my website. I'd gotten the initial offer on Wednesday afternoon, November 1, and was waiting to see if Delacorte would accept our counter offer the next day. Kari called me around 2:00 PM on Thursday, November 2, and told me that they'd accepted the counter and I very nearly burst out of my skin. It's the closest to hysteria I think I've ever been. I laughed and cried and screamed so loud my four-year-old, who was in the office with me, covered his ears and told me to be quiet. 

Kari hung up so I could "process," which I think is code word for "calm the hell down," and we emailed and texted "AHHHHHHH" and "SQUEEEEEE" back and forth for about ten minutes while I sobbed and tried to wrap my head around the fact that I'd finally—FINALLY—caught up to my dream. 

I highly recommend this moment. 

Did you have to wait a period of time before sharing your big news, because of details being ironed out? Was that difficult?

Yes! I wasn't allowed to say anything before the announcement went out on PW Children's and Publisher's Marketplace, but luckily, I didn't have to wait for the contract to be signed. Some authors have to wait months to tell anyone. Keeping my mouth shut was ridiculously difficult, even though I had a short wait time, because everyone knew I was on submission. I told my closest family members who were sworn to secrecy, but I had to wait to tell everyone else. =)

But on November 15, Kari emailed me to say the announcement was going out that night, and while I was at my middle son's basketball game, I was INUNDATED with emails and texts because the announcement had gone live. It was crazy watching my son's game and trying to keep up with the notifications, so I shut off my phone, focused on my son, and then made my own social media announcement later that night. 

Wednesday WOLF: Dissecting the F Word

I've got a collection of random information in my brain that makes me an awesome Trivial Pursuit partner, but is completely useless when it comes to real world application. Like say, job applications. I thought I'd share some of this random crap with you in the form of another acronym-ific series. I give you - Word Origins from Left Field - that's right, the WOLF. Er... ignore the fact that the "from" doesn't fit.

Most of us say it every now and then. I know I did when I stepped on a rake and hit myself in the face (yes, really). The "F word" is a very satisfying way to get all that crap out of your head and into the atmosphere. There are two common misconceptions about the origin of that particular four-letter word, as luck would have it for the WOLF, they both involve acronyms.

Fornication                                                              For
Under                                    OR                             Unlawful
Consent of the                                                         Carnal
King                                                                        Knowledge

The 1st incorrect acronym has been tied to a variety of different logic-based arguments, from the concept that invading soldiers needed "permission" to rape women (because it was considered sex out of wedlock, not because, you know, it's rape) and the king could grant them this. Whether or not it was called a Writ of Fuck is unclear. Another take on this is that wedded couples had to have the permission of the king to have a baby, and so would apply for permission to fuck. Because kings took the time to do that kind of thing, you know.

The 2nd incorrect acronym is usually referred to as a means of judicial punishment for adulterers and rapists (yes, in this version rape is actually a bad thing). It has also been said that soldiers were accused of the crime of fucking when they were caught with each other.

And while all this carries just enough glimmer of truth to be generally accepted as true, it simply isn't.

But that doesn't mean there weren't people tossing out the F bomb back in the middle ages. They were. And they used it the same way we do. The eff word is actually a very old word, so when you think you're being all cutting edge and pushing the envelope when you use it, really you're just rehashing something one of your 15th century ancestors might have said.

Apparently it does the trick pretty well because we've been using it since then.

The Random House Dictionary of Historical Slang cites Middle Dutch fokken = "to thrust; copulate with" (say it with a Dutch accent and you'll see), Norwegian dialect fukka = "to copulate with," Swedish dialect focka = "to strike, push; copulate with."

So amaze your friends at your next party by whipping out the Random House Dictionary of Historical Slang. I know that's how I roll.