Marketing You Can Sink Your Teeth Into: It’s In The Bag!

I’m always on the look out for a good marketing tip to share with our authors! Yesterday,  I was given a reusable “green” shopping bag from a university bookstore and as soon as I saw the word “bookstore” printed on the bag I thought it would be an excellent promotional item if authors printed a picture of their book’s cover on the bag.

I’ve seen these bags for sale at the grocery store and the pharmacy with a company logo printed on them, but never really invested in the “branded” bags because I thought they were too small.  But I would definitely appreciate an author who used these “going green” bags to help brand their book.  The bags could be sold or given away at book fairs and signings, or use the bag instead of packing material when sending out a review copy of the book or a marketing kit.

The bag pictured is available for customization at cafepress.com.  It’s free to sign up and only costs $12.99 to order the bag. You add an image to the front and back of the bag which means you could add your book’s front and back cover if you wanted. You’re allowed up to a 10″ x 10″ photo for the front and back. The bag is made of 100% cotton canvas, and measures 15″ x 18″ x 6.” Our own LK Gardner-Griffie’s new book cover for Misfit McCabe is pictured here.

A Sweet Way to Market Your Book by LK Gardner-Griffie

Last weekend, I had the opportunity to visit the Wonderland Bakery and meet Sondra and Allyson Ames whose marketing ideas we featured in a previous article. At the time I was babysitting my nieces and nephews for the weekend, so it was a family trip to the bakery. Of course the kids were on board, because after all, who is going to say no to a trip to the place that makes cakes and cookies and all sorts of good things to eat. One of the touching gestures they made to make our visit special is they prepared individual cookies for each of the kids: A purse for our thirteen year old niece, a soccer ball for our 12 year old nephew, a cupcake with sprinkles for our three year old niece, and an Elmo for our soon to be one year old nephew.

In addition to this, they made a cookie for me which pictured the cover of my novel Misfit McCabe. Sondra mentioned to me that whenever they send their Wonderlicious book out for review or send out a press release, they send along a few cookies with the package to help sweeten the disposition of the recipients. It will definitely make your submission stand out from the crowd and give the recipient something to remember you by. One other idea that will help sales along, is to have a batch of photo cookies made to give away along with the purchase of a book for book signings.

The cookie that was made with the cover of Misfit McCabe is called a photo cookie and is commonly made with a sugar cookie base, but I have also seen listings for photo cookies to be on chocolate and gingerbread as well. While I have first hand feedback from my nieces and nephews that these were the best sugar cookies they had ever had, Wonderland Bakery is not the only place to have photo cookies made. Simply search for photo cookies with your favorite search engine and determine which cookie best suits your needs and budget. On top of the fun of having a cookie with your book cover on it, think of the fun you can have conducting the taste tests along the way. So, get some cookies, put together your kit, and pop them in the bag!