Wednesday, December 1, 2010

I heart bookmarks

I know authors have varying opinions about bookmarks - whether they're a worthwhile investment or not. Personally, I LOVE them.

Here are just a few of the ways I've used them in the past:

A librarian was going to a conference and planned to book talk my book. She asked if I might send her 50 bookmarks to hand out to the attendees of the session. I was happy to do so.

An acquaintance of mine wrote to me and told me how a student in her daughter's English class mentioned my book as a favorite of hers. I asked her if I could send some signed bookmarks for her daughter to pass out to kids in the class. Apparently, they were a big hit.

Anytime I mail a book for a prize, I stick a few bookmarks in the envelope. Many bloggers love collecting swag to include in their prize packs, and I'm happy to send some along to them as well.

If a kid e-mails me, excited about an upcoming book, I'll ask her to get permission from a parent to give me her address, then I mail signed bookmarks for her and her friends.

I always get the bookmarks as soon as I have the cover, so I have a whole lot of months to be passing them out. Yesterday, my order arrived for my next YA novel, THE DAY BEFORE.

I think the designer did a great job. I recommend her and the company she works for ALL the time. She doesn't charge for putting the design together. All I have to do is send her what I want on the front as far as text goes, what I want on the back, and attach a high resolution jpg of the cover. She does the rest.

Their prices are pretty reasonable, I think. (You can go to the web site and see a chart of prices, depending on what you want on the front and on the back). Yes, it's cheapest if you design the bookmark yourself and send it out to be printed, but I don't know how to do that and frankly, don't want to spend the time. So it's worth it to me to just have Kelley do it for me!

The company I use is www.iconix.biz - kelley's e-mail address is kelley(at)iconix(dot)biz.

What about you - are you a fan of bookmarks?

15 comments:

  1. Aww, I just loved The Day Before bookmarks design! It's simply beautiful. :)

    And, oh yeah, I'm huge fan of bookmarks. I love how my collection grows and grows and grows. But let's admit I rarely use them all. I'am afraid to cause any damage on them, so I get something else to use as a bookmark. Hehe.

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  2. I didn't realize just how useful bookmarks can be!

    I'm curious, Lisa, how many bookmarks do you usually order? Do you have a sense of how many bookmarks you use over a certain period of time?

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  3. Raila - maybe you can decorate a wall with all of the pretty bookmarks you've collected. :)

    Anna - With Chasing Brooklyn, I ordered 500 bookmarks and I went through them in 9-12 months. They are completely gone. I ordered 1,000 for I HEART YOU, YOU HAUNT ME and I still have some of those left 3 years later.

    It's only $20.00 more between 500 and 1,000. I probably should have ordered 1,000, but I went with 500 this time around, because money is tight.

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  4. Lisa, You just convinced me to get bookmarks made for IMAGINARY GIRLS. Thank you! Great post.

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  5. I love bookmarks!!! I have a ton and love to collect them. I'm actually considering getting bookmarks for my blog. Yours are beautiful! Can't wait for The Day Before! =)

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  6. I heart bookmarks!
    And yours is just lovely.

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  7. I'm a fan of bookmarks. They're nice to look at, fun to receive and I like giving them to my friends when I have more than one of the same type of bookmark :)

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  8. I think signed bookmarks are great keepsakes... especially when they're addressed to the reader! =)

    Jessica

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  9. Love bookmarks and can't wait to order my first batch for my book. Thanks for the contact info.

    PS. Can't wait for The Day Before. I have ALL of your books, Lisa.

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  10. The new bookmark is beautiful! I think this is my favorite of your covers so far.

    I love bookmarks, too. I should be receiving my 2k11 bookmarks in just a few days. Can't wait!

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  11. I LOVE bookmarks--especially for blog contests because my followers get super excited. I always grab a few at signings and send them off with prizes.

    Those are BEAUTIFUL btw. *Covets* :)

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  12. I love bookmarks and have tons of them! think I may have a slight problem. lol. And your books always have such lovely bookmarks! Positively adore the one for The Day Before!

    By the wa, will have a review up of Chasing Brooklyn soon. :D

    ~Briana

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  13. Thanks for all of the nice comments everyone! And it's good to know I'm not the only one who loves bookmarks. :)

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  14. Thank you so much for sending me some bookmarks of The Day Before! They are such pretty treasures (which I'll share with my readers, of course!)

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