Merchandising Your Book for Readers—And for Profits
A few weeks back, at the Toronto International Book Fair, I met Louise Courey Nadeau, author ofMagelica’s Voyage, a self-published early reader book. Nadeau is a smart, independent, and creative authorpreneur. In other words, she does more than write and sell books, she creates a brand. She gave me a little Magelica’s Voyage gift set, which includes a book and a necklace, that she sells in stores and via her website. Her website also offers a weekly giveaway, and a la carte purchasing options: You can just get just the book (in one of three languages) or the necklace. As a bonus freebie, you can download a coloring book or a sticker book.
What Nadeau is doing is what more authors should be thinking about: merchandising their books. Perhaps when you hear that word you think of Mel Brooks as Yogurt in Spaceballs, shouting “Merchandising! Merchandising! Merchandising!” while showing off a line of toys related to the very film that he’s in. Or maybe you’re thinking of the Elsa doll you had to buy your daughter after coming out of Frozen. Well, both Yogurt and Walt Disney Corp have something there. Merchandising your book means more than making a little extra on the side. It means enriching your reader’s experience and making your story bigger than just what’s on the page.
And a lot of these add-ons can be had pretty inexpensively. A sheet of stickers from a print-on-demand shop like Café Press or Zazzle, will be manageable for most authors. So your main character can be on a lunchbox or laptop. And the world of 3D printing is making all kinds of things possible, like creating your own action figure.
If you’re a photographer, think about offering extra photos, either tipped-in to the book, or sold separately. One of my favorite examples is Flemming Bo Jensen’s Diario del Peru, which came in both a limited-edition, leather-wrapped, tipped-in-photo version, as well as regular print-on-demand version. I bought the special edition. I liked the extra stuff.
Perhaps one of the best ways to create compelling merchandise for your book is to create accessories that echo things in the world of the book. Think of all those Harry Potter scarves. You can do something similar by offering a mug or T-shirt that a character in your book uses or wears. If you’re a fan of the TV show The Wire,you may be familiar with the “Elect Clay Davis Shirts” that people would wear. Sure, it’s a thing for the superfan of a big TV show, but it’s a clever idea that could easily be borrowed for a book. Some might even call it transmedia—but that’s a subject for a later date.
Back to Magelica’s Voyage. I don’t have kids, so I gave the gift set to a co-worker with a nine-year-old daughter. The book—and the necklace—got rave reviews. I’m now talking about it on this blog. And Magelica’s Voyage got a new fan who’s walking around with a talisman/promotional item for all her friends to see. And who knows where that could lead?
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