From Sherry:

I do like the candy bar wrapper swag. Fun and sweet.

Sherry is traveling so she messaged me your answer, Karen. (How sweet is that??)

A book proposal usually has more to do with your platform as an author and the work itself. Publishers, especially large ones, normally want to, to some degree, control the swag and marketing materials they put out.

If you have fun ideas, you can always discuss with them later. I don’t know that I’d clutter a proposal with swag ideas UNLESS they will help your book reach it’s target audience. For example, if your book is about a famous barrel rider, and your swag idea is custom horse brushes. Does that make sense?

I love vistaprint and UPrinting as well as places like Pure Buttons and Oriental Trading. Hope this helps!

I do several large events every year including NY Comic Con and I have always had people asking for paper swag. Author events can sometimes turn into swag competitions, and readers there are sometimes much pickier about what they take, which is why I suggest adding value to paper swag by adding codes for free books/samples. But paper swag is light, easy to carry, and people really do like it.

That is incredibly memorable swag, Cara. I'd have taken your chocolate and given it to my kid (the GF thing keeps a ton of yummy things away from me), and kept the book covers. 🙂

I've never heard of gum! But what a fantastic idea. People like me who MUST be gluten free really appreciate the ingredients list. If I can't read it, I don't eat it. Period.

Those are some of my faves too, Denise. Although I've always been grateful for the nail files and the notebooks as well.

At one point I was handing out little packages of dog treats. The next year visitors wanted to know ingredients.

Have other writers noticed swag trends at big author events?