Note: Blogger is eating my pictures, including a funky TT banner and the postcard in question. See my book cover in right side-bar for visual...
Today's Thursday Thirteen is inspired by my own d'oh! moment. I ordered postcards featuring the cover of my upcoming release, Destiny by Design thinking it would be a MARVELOUS marketing tool. You agree, don'tcha??
Of course, being a frugal-minded penniless writer, I didn't have the blurb printed on the back thinking I could easily do it on my home printer, thereby saving myself $23.50.
Today's Thursday Thirteen is inspired by my own d'oh! moment. I ordered postcards featuring the cover of my upcoming release, Destiny by Design thinking it would be a MARVELOUS marketing tool. You agree, don'tcha??
Of course, being a frugal-minded penniless writer, I didn't have the blurb printed on the back thinking I could easily do it on my home printer, thereby saving myself $23.50.
Problem - the postcard stock is too thick for my printer. Let's say it together: D'OH!
Second issue - who the hell am I going to send them to?? The book is digital, so it's not like I can mail them to local bookstores. ALL my friends are on-line and will be sent promos prior to the May 18th release so,.... all together again, double D'OH!
Thanks, Rebecca, for giving me the idea to come up with alternative uses for useless promo material:
13 Alternative Uses for 100 Hot, Sexy Postcards
- Wallpaper my office
- Airdrop over convent
- Don a giant dildo costume and hand out to passersby
- Summer's coming -- spread and commense fanning
- Or when I can't find a dustpan
- One big freakin' house of cards
- Add a few staples and make a Destiny by Design haute couture gown
- Bottom of the cat litter box
- Photoshop "I Can't Believe It's Not Butter - SPRAY!" and leave it on grocery shelves
- Give to a senior's home to be used in lieu of heart medication (it's bound to get the tickers beating!)
- Add a santa hat and use them as Christmas cards
- Tape onto the front cover of all the Nora Robert's books at the library (better order more!)
- Honey! We're out of toilet paper...
What would you do?
Leave your suggestion in comments and I'll post the winner here tomorrow. The prize? A copy of Destiny by Design, of course, with a personally autographed postcard :)Don't forget to leave your name:
37 comments:
Do you know of any conventions near you? Or any conventions - period?? I am attending DragonCon again this August, it's a gigantic science fiction convention in Atlanta GA - but there were flyers there for other conventions, romance books, comics events, proofreading services (yep!), you name it, if any one of 40K+ science fiction fans might think of buying it, ever, there was promo material there. Even if it doesn't have the book blurb on the back...people will pick it up and possibly go looking for the book.
You could also print out a blurb (or a few choice sentences) onto stickers, then stick those on the backs of some of the postcards. Yes, it's labor-intensive. But it could be better than entirely writing off the cost of the batch.
I know what! Send 'em to a bunch of uptight, sphincter-faced, anal-rententive politicritters and neo-facist religio-critters. Dunno if you guys have many of those in Canada, but there are plenty of them here in the U.S.! Give 'em all a good harelip -- or make them have to take a cold shower.
I have to say I was howling with laughter all the way through your Thirteen, but I'm sorry to hear about the boo boo. It sounds exactly like something I would do, too, to save money -- very understandable. Who could know that the ding-dang card stock would be so ding-danged thick? ACK!!!!!
I like laughing muse's suggestion to print promos on stickers and stick 'em on the back of the postcards. :)
And oh dear, I'm still snickering at the visual of the giant dildo costume... :-D
Thanks for your sweet words about my Thirteen, my friend!
I was going to say that if you have any left over you can always send them to me, but I am so in agreement with Thomma Lyn's comment that I'll just applaud her and say Right On!
Thanks for suggestions Laughing Muse, and your ridicule, TL :)
I probably will go with stickers - though it might cheapen the look (Like I care??). And I'm sure someone will take a few to Houston for the RWA conference if I beg...
LOL! Those are all great ideas, but I think I like #11 the best. I know some of my friends would much prefer a Christmas card with that image over the typical kind I send with a festive photo of my dogs. :-)
Happy TT and thanks for visiting my list!
Oh yes for toilet paper we are suddenly "Honey" lol !
I love the toilet paper one. I can imagine, if it's too thick for the printer, it has to be a little hard on the tush! :)
Check out my TT.
If you do #3, I want photographic proof ;)
Since you're in the GTA, there should be lots of conventions running that you could drop the post cards off at.
You could also try local bookstores and coffee shops. Perhaps not the big chains, but maybe the small corner type..
Ouch!
Sorry to hear about your printer/cardstock incompatibility. Loved some of your ideas, though.
On a serious note, if there's a chance your book will eventually go to print, they could be useful then. Because that is one smokin' cover! Congrats!
LOL! Great ideas! Sorry to hear that the postcards won't fit in your printer, and that you don't know who to send them to. I'm sure you'll figure out an appropriate use for them!
You could join PostCrossing (www.postcrossing.com) and start sending them all over the world. I know I'd like one! Some of your solutions would really be a waist!
Thanks for visiting my collections TT.
I bet you'd get a LOT of publicity if you do the dildo costume idea LOL!
Great list...I need to check out the postcrossings by pp
Happy TT!
this is a great TT you creative wench you. i'm still racking my brains for mine. i got nada so far this morning.
I'll hand some out at next month's Pennwriter's conference. Think Dan Lazar would want one? (I'll get a picture!)
I like the sticker synopsis; I've gotten postcards like that before and it only looks bad when the stickers have wrong info or are full of typos.
If the Leafs had made it into the playoffs, you could hang out and hand them to drunk fans... imagine pulling THAT out of their pockets the next day!
Another choice, sort of along Thomma Lyn's idea, would be to send them to members of the US Supreme Court, who just outlawed partial-birth abortions withOUT a provision for mom's health.
Maybe send THEM more than one...
LOL! Love the ideas... there's got to be someone you know or another EC author who's going to RT or RWA who could hand 'em out for you.
If not, though? I'm totally loving the idea of a santa-hat sticker and using them for Christmas cards! Talk about making the season bright!
LOL! #3 just about had me spewing my coffee, Wylie! Yup, I'm definitely casting my vote for the dildo costume.
Oh my, that is quite the dilemna. I like the idea of sticking them on Nora's books.
Whenever my husband changed business cards, we used the obsolete ones for tags on Christmas presents.
Don't give up hope Wylie...
What you do is, you print out stickers with your blog address on them, and your digital book address too if you like...but I suggest blog address.
I make homemade art postcards with recycled images and paint...and I leave them at book stores and coffee shops around the city or when I travel. I have also mailed them to friends and asked them to leave them at cool spots. It is a way to get people to come to your blog...!!! That is a good thing!
Um, if you want to mail me some...I will put them around in places where women go, with their kids, some day cares...some coffee shops...ok?
Do you have my e-mail address?
candyminx@hotmail.com
Here is my TT list for this week...I actually lost track of the days last week...and didn't even do a TT list last week...very spaced out
here:
http://gnosticminx.blogspot.com/2007/04/fashion-and-movies.html
LMAO! I would not recommend going the toilet paper route with postcards. Cardboard papercuts suck! Ouch. Sorry you don't have anywhere to put them. My suggestion would be to give them to another author to hand out at RT, which someone no doubt has already suggested. :)
I have to agree the stickers are the best way of correcting your problem.
That said...I'm thinking hand write
"I know your secret and this is about you."
on the back of all the cards and leave them in random places. People will panic and buy the book just to make sure you don't know the truth...
The idea of giving them to friends going to conferences is great. There's nothing to say you can't still mail them out to people, or even leave them in doctor's offices, etc. People will take the trouble to order it online if they're intrigued!
I've got to remember these. You never know when this might come in handy. LOL
The first thing that came to my mind was leaving them in internet cafes, but that might be problematic with anything over a PG-13 rating!
Oh, and the sun is finally shining here in the GTA! Yahoo. Have a fabulous spring weekend. Finally!
How about joining bookcrossing and sending them out with bookring books?
Postcrossing is also a great idea.
#1: I think your TT list is a hoot! Esp #13.
#2: even before I read previous comments, I was thinking "stickers".
And there must be fabulous ways to use them. Book stores, gift stores (if you were local, I'd have you do a reading in my store and you could pass out the postcards!).
Be creative & think out of the box - you know, that convent idea isn't bad...
Cute list. Number 3 had me giggling.
Nooo! Don't hand them out at a senior's home...it could cause a heart attack! Great list!
LOL You could find someone going to RT and beg them to take the cards along.
They'd make great valentine's day cards too.
Aline
Just SLIP them quietly INSIDE a whole pile of Nora Roberts books so they would remain undiscovered until the book-buyer got home. That would work - and people would take it as some kind of endorsement from Nora herself.
Rebecca
Well there's the meeting and I am still anxiously awaiting my signed copy you promised me at the last meeting. Give me some, I'll pass some out here in Nodnol.
I have use for one. Interested? Drop me an e-mail (you can get it from my profile, or else take the old phrase "Susan from West of Mars" and change from to @ and stick a dot com at the end)...
I guess a typewriter wouldnt work right?
stick em inside rental or library DVD cases. after putting stickers with your blog url on them first of course.
my #29 is 13 things about my current situation stemming from my laptop power cord quitting on me last night.
http://joystory.blogspot.com/2007/04/thursday-thirteen-29.html
I'm late chiming in, but I'd definitely go with printing up some short blurbs or adverts on stickers using your own printer. Next week you'll realize your saving money plan was genius! Good luck!
Use to warm you up. Either stare at them forever or use to stoke a nice bright bonfire!
I wouldn't toss them away just yet, they might come in handy. You could always drop them off at churches. :)
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