Thursday, November 12, 2009

Bookmarks

Right now, I’m waiting for the bookmarks for HOWL DEADLY to be finished at the printer’s. HOWL DEADLY is the eighth in my Kendra Ballantyne, Pet-Sitter mystery series, and it will be a December release.

I’ve been doing bookmarks since the series started, and I love ‘em! I always feature the cover of the latest Kendra book, and I’ve been absolutely delighted with each of the covers. I use the bookmarks to introduce the next book and to show what stories have already been published. I leave some at book stores and libraries and wherever else seems to make sense at the time. I give them to readers, book store personnel, other writers, people I interview for research, friends, total strangers, whoever. My bookmarks tell people who I am, as well as who Kendra is.

I’ve also been pleased this year to give out bookmarks created and provided by Harlequin for Silhouette Nocturnes. Since like all series romance Nocturnes are available in bookstores only during the month of publication, I haven’t done my own because of the timing. But since this is Harlequin’s 60th birthday, they’ve put together bookmarks that promote a series on one side, and offer free downloads of stories on the other.

And I’m also happy now to be passing out KillerHobbies bookmarks, designed and obtained by my fellow blogger Joanna Campbell Slan and first distributed at Bouchercon, which I unfortunately didn’t attend this year.

BTW, I’m also proud of my fellow bloggers and their ingenuity. Next week, we’ll each be giving a lesson on some aspect of writing. Mine is on point of view. This blog entry is, obviously, in first person.

On the other hand, the wonderful, modest author Linda O. Johnston will be blogging about point of view in her writing next week. Stay tuned!

Back to my original subject and point of view. Bookmarks--I love them all!

In fact, I do a lot of traveling for fun, and I also collect bookmarks representative of all the places I’ve visited.

Since the Kendra books started being published, I’ve seen occasional blog posts and comments on groups to which I belong that criticize promotional bookmarks--for whatever reason. None of them have made sense to me.

Oh, and by the way, I do use bookmarks when I read. Although I admit that, occasionally, I slip in a notecard, or the library’s printout of borrowed books, or a grocery receipt...

How about you? Do you like bookmarks? Do you like to receive any that are distributed by an author, often as BSP (blatant self promotion)?

8 comments:

Mason Canyon said...

Bookmarks are a wonderful thing. I too use whatever is handy sometimes - even a piece of yarn. But I prefer bookmarks. Don't really know why, they just makes me feel more organized I guess. Bookmarks from authors are nice. I like the idea of listing the books that way if this is the first book I've read in that series and want more, I know what to look for.

Joanna Campbell Slan said...

Linda, that reminds me I really need to decide what to do about bookmarks for Photo, Snap, Shot, my 3rd book. I have Kelley at Iconix working on a design, but I need to make some decisions. Also, I was thinking about recipe cards. Sigh. You just don't know for sure what is of value and what isn't until you have them--and then part of whether these things are of value depends on how you distribute them!

Camille Minichino said...

One of the things I've found useful is to put all four covers in this series in thumbnails on my bookmark.

Then, when someone asks which was first, or what order when they buy a set, I can just hand over a bookmark and point!

[I wish I'd done it for the periodic table series, but I was naive enough to think everyone knows the order of the elements!]

Linda O. Johnston said...

I keep so many bookmarks around, Mason, that they wind up being handier than almost anything else!

I like the idea of recipe cards as well as bookmarks, Joanna. People are likely to love one of them, if not the other.

And Camille, I like the idea of more than one cover on a bookmark, too. But shrinking them even more to fit on the smaller surface means leaving out even more details! Since I include the titles, in order, on the back, I can at least show interested people the list. But being able to point to them would be even better!

Betty Hechtman said...

Linda, I was so impressed with your bookmarks, I asked for your printer's name.

I have just one cover on each one and don't put a release date on it, so it won't look dated.

I give them out to all sorts of people. They're nicer than a business card because they actually have a purpose.

Linda O. Johnston said...

Our printer speaks fondly of you, Betty! And though I also have business cards, I find bookmarks are a lot more practical most of the time, too.

LadyPI said...

I love using bookmarks! I've picked some up for free at the library and have gotten some as gifts.

I have an old Peanuts cartoon bookmark that is one of my favorites. It shows Sally sitting at her desk at school saying "be glad you don't have to write a book report on this"!

Blatant Self Promotion - no problem. It's all a part of the PR work you authors have to do.

(PS - Can I have one?)

Linda O. Johnston said...

Of course you can have a bookmark, LadyPI! Send me your snail mail address at: lindaojohnston@yahoo.com
I always loved Peanuts--your bookmark sounds cute!