Book Swag And How To Get It
Skip the intro, take me straight to the Preorder Links…
How do I get book swag and preorder offers?
Book ‘swag’ is essentially promotional material that is released by authors and publishers to promote a publication.
Common examples include promotional bookmarks and postcards, stickers, posters, and bonus content for the book. More interesting options include enamel pins, signed bookplates, tarot cards – the offerings are limited only by the author’s imagination.
A lot of this cool merchandise is offered only to book blogger ‘influencers’ who have huge followings, and the publishers send it directly to them as part of their marketing campaign. Fun things are also available to people who are able to attend book conventions. But honestly, if you fall into these brackets, you’re probably not here reading this page, are you? So what can you do if you’re just a reader with a penchant for bookish things?
Well, I’ve found the best way to get cool bookish swag for free is to pre-order books you are pretty sure you’re going to love from authors and publishers who offer preorder incentive deals directly to consumers. Offers aren’t really aggregated anywhere convenient (publishers are competing against each other for your book budget, after all), but they are typically advertised through Twitter feeds, Instagram, Facebook, blogs and mailing lists. So if there are particular authors you love, or publishers you purchase from frequently, start stalking these avenues.
On the other hand, if you’re time poor and just want a quick overview of what’s coming up that you might be interested in, have I got a deal for you! I’ve set up a page with all the latest information on current preorder offers and campaigns to save you the trouble of tracking the info down yourself.
I’ve grouped incentive deals into six month blocks – mainly because I want to keep archives of previous offers for interest’s sake. I update the lists every week or two with new deals I’ve discovered. Feel free to bookmark the pages and keep coming back, or you can sign up for notifications every time the page changes.
If you’re an author/publisher and you’d like me to add your offering to my site, please submit the details here.
I’ve been doing this for many years now and I also archive previous offers, so if you’re interested in what was made available for a previously published book you like, or you are want inspiration for your own book preorder campaign, then use the archive links below.
