Fiction author Robin Brande talks about writing, reading, and other vital matters

Okay, this is too cool. Yesterday I got a package from my publisher with a few samples of the swag they’ll be handing out in connection with my book.

Is it weird that I actually got more excited about that than about seeing the Advanced Reader Copy of my book last week? It’s just that a girl like me, I live for swag. It’s why I go to all of the outdoor-oriented film festivals that come through our town on tour–there’s always a drawing where you can win fabulous prizes like backpacks and insulated mugs and titanium chopsticks.

The book swag consists of some wall clings featuring the girl from my cover; a fake high school newspaper including, for the first time, my photo (hint: I look sort of like you imagine, but different); and some iron-ons for T-shirts. Too, too cool.

And to fully geek out, I’m going to start putting my cover art on every surface I can find: T-shirts, coffee mugs, boxer shorts, wind chimes, you name it. (Note to anyone in my family who might be reading this: Guess what you’re getting for Christmas?!)

When Barry Lyga was getting ready for his book launch party back in September, he found a company that will print your logo on M & Ms. He ran out of time, otherwise he was going to put those fabulous lips on some candies. Instead he ordered a cake that had the book cover perfectly imprinted on the frosting. Those are the little details that make authors giggle.

I’m going to see if I can score some extra swag to hand out here, but as my editor keeps reminding me, “Those are for the grownups.” She doesn’t say it that way–she uses terms like “booksellers” and “librarians”–but I know what she means. She can tell I get a little worked up over some of these tangential issues of seeing my first novel published. It’s like the mini-cow I had when I found out they were sending a car to my house to take me to the airport. Can’t help that I’m a nerd. Deal with it.

I’d love to chat more, but I’ve got to go research how much it costs to transfer my cover art to keychains and pillow cases. Oh, and I also need to write about 3,000 words of this novel I’m working on right now. Yeah, there’s that.

Have a good Saturday. May you all win some swag.

Technorati Tags: Writing, Publishing, Fiction, Young Adult Fiction, Young Adult Novels

Posted on Saturday, November 11th, 2006 at 10:57 am under Writing . Subscribe to responses: RSS 2.0 Comment Feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.