Since I’m attending the conference in San Francisco I’ve been thinking about promo. Last time I went to the RWA conference I distributed bookmarks and business cards via the goodie room and thought I’d do something similar this year. Then last week, thanks to the Marketing for Romance Writers loop, I had another idea. Book thongs.
Hubby and I discussed the idea and I googled for instructions on how to construct a book thong. We decided that the only downside to a book thong would be the lack of connection to my name, but we’ve come up with a cunning plan to combat this disadvantage. Each book thong will have a little label attached and will also be placed inside a ziplock bag, along with an excerpt. We’re also going for a special New Zealand flavor, which unfortunately for all of you is top secret. In other words, I’m not gonna tell. 
For those who don’t know what a book thong is, here’s a link to instructions on how to make one plus a photo. Here’s another link to JM Snyder’s instructions so you have two sets of different instructions to compare.
We’d already decided to go for a drive to buy compost and potting mix so added bead shopping to our list. In the past I’ve done several handicrafts including knitting, tapestry, cross stitch and sewing, but I’ve never done beadwork. We walked into a craft shop and had great fun studying all the beads and deciding which ones to buy. I settled for a green theme since that’s what I have on my website. We also purchased dark cord. On arrival home we discovered our cord was a little thick for the beads. Mr. Munro stalked out to the garage and returned with his drill. He had his serious face on so I left him to it. He loves projects and thrives on challenges of all kinds. About half an hour later he’d made three book thongs. I was very impressed.
I’m not spending a fortune and don’t intend to make hundreds of thongs, but a few lucky people will go home with New Zealand book thongs.
This morning I received another good review for Fancy Free. In fact I’m thrilled with the reviews I’ve received so far. Kate Garrabrant from JERR says, “I had some good laughs while reading Fancy Free and Shelley Munro truly writes exceptional sex scenes with two great characters. I would recommend you check a great story by an exceptional author!”
I picked up a ‘Book Thong’ at Dallas last year, and I love it - I use it all the time. Trouble is I have no idea what author made it/supplied it, so you definitely need to add something so the receiver can identify whose it is, so it’ll market your name/book better. The little label idea works as long as it’s part of the thong - if it’s something that can be taken off, you’ve lost your marketing edge. And if it can’t, it should not be something sharp and will not get in the way. (And thanks for the links, I’m going to make some of my own now.)
by Leah Braemel April 8th, 2008 at 7:29 pmI agree, Leah, about the identity problem. It’s something to keep in mind with all promo items. Hopefully my NZ theme will help me stand out.
by Shelley Munro April 8th, 2008 at 7:36 pmHi,
I’ve just come across your website whilst looking for instructions on how to make a book thong.
Maybe a bit late now, but if you make any more book thongs you could maybe use shrink plastic. You can write your advertising details on the shrink plastic, then shrink it and then use it as a bead on the book thong. Your details are then attached to the book thong and won’t be lost as the previous lady mentioned.
You can get shrink plastic in lots of different colours and patterns over here and you can of course get white or clear and colour it yourself.
Denise
by Denise May 13th, 2008 at 4:21 amDenise - thanks for the comment. That’s a great idea, and I’ll keep it in mind for the future.
by Shelley Munro May 16th, 2008 at 4:41 am