Pick a tchotchke

[BobbyBrandt]

I am preparing for a local author event where my middle-grade chapter book will be featured. I wanted to find an age-appropriate give-away (tchotchke) for participants which promoted the book favorably.

I found that I could have M&M candies customized with an image of the book cover printed on them, and thought that little packages of these would be popular with the age of my target audience (even if the promotional item would likely end up in their guts).

This got me thinking, "What sort of tchotchke could I find to promote one of my erotic stories?"

So, if you had to pick a cheap give-away item for one of your stories, what would it be and why. Feel free to share a link to your story to see if others agree with your tchotchke selection.

 

[lovecraft68]

I'm guessing middle grade is kids so do you really think a candle is something they're into?

As for an erotic story its like anything else, what's the budget?

I'm fairly certain you can get a pair of 'fuzzy' handcuffs that aren't pricey. Maybe tubes of lube? Whatever it is would have to work for men and women or you'd need to come up with two things.

Or are we not being all that serious and money doesn't matter? If that's the case I'd be going with collars or ball gags.

 

[BobbyBrandt]

I'm guessing middle grade is kids so do you really think a candle is something they're into?

The lower case 'i' can look like an 'l', I suppose.

 

[TheWritingGroup]

I've actually seen custom-branded condoms as merch.

Depending on the audience, little packets of lube would be appropriate. Some, let's say traditional men don't seem to realize how important lube is. And for an anal sex story, well ....

--Annie

 

[BobbyBrandt]

I've actually seen custom-branded condoms as merch.

Depending on the audience, little packets of lube would be appropriate. Some, let's say traditional men don't seem to realize how important lube is. And for an anal sex story, well ....

--Annie

Assorted flavored lubricants would broaden the audience appeal, I'm sure.

 

[Britva415]

I could have M&M candies customized with an image of the book cover printed on them

An extremely low-resolution version of it. Is the book cover like just a simple one-bit-color, vector-art icon of a logo?

I did this with a business logo one time. It came out OK except that I couldn't choose the color. But my logo was SIMPLE af. Your design really can't be much more complicated than a standard printed lowercase "m" like the standard M&M logo print.

 

[BobbyBrandt]

An extremely low-resolution version of it. Is the book cover like just a simple one-bit-color, vector-art icon of a logo?

I did this with a business logo one time. It came out OK except that I couldn't choose the color. But my logo was SIMPLE af. Your design really can't be much more complicated than a standard printed lowercase "m" like the standard M&M logo print.

My image was just a simple black and white rendering from the colored image file I sent them. It was good enough to let people know what the cover looks like but not production quality by any means.

They claim to be able to print a facial image from a picture file.

 

[alohadave]

This got me thinking, "What sort of tchotchke could I find to promote one of my erotic stories?"

Mini key-chain butt plugs.

 

[ShelbyDawn57]

They're on Etsy somewhere...

 

[crookedletter]

Maybe some of those novelty boob sets you can pull on over your shirt. Certain, uh... assets seem to be a recurring descriptor in my stories...

 

[Erozetta]

A hotel key card notepad.

A reversible pink and black velvet ribbon that's long enough to be tied around your neck like a collar.

Caramel filled triple chocolate chip browned butter cookies.

A cheesecake keychain with cherry pie crumbles over the top.

A Packet of lube that's colored to look like blood.

A pin that says "Just Friends."

A heart plushie.

A zine dedicated to erotic horror.

A shot glass.

A variety of masquerade-style masks.

A D20 or a drider figurine.

A stuffed strawberry.

A leash.

Knitted dick.

Scythe sticker.

Sticker with a quote from the story on it.

Pussy squishy.

Train car keychain

Pin that says Shhh...

Toy truck.


I think those are in order.

 

[dirk2024]

A hotel key card notepad.

A reversible pink and black velvet ribbon that's long enough to be tied around your neck like a collar.

Caramel filled triple chocolate chip browned butter cookies.

A cheesecake keychain with cherry pie crumbles over the top.

A Packet of lube that's colored to look like blood.

A pin that says "Just Friends."

A heart plushie.

A zine dedicated to erotic horror.

A shot glass.

A variety of masquerade-style masks.

A D20 or a drider figurine.

A stuffed strawberry.

A leash.

Knitted dick.

Scythe sticker.

Sticker with a quote from the story on it.

Pussy squishy.

Train car keychain

Pin that says Shhh...

Toy truck.


I think those are in order.

I think someone is killin' time at work, waiting on the clock's slow movement around the dial.

 

[Erozetta]

I think someone is killin' time at work, waiting on the clock's slow movement around the dial.

I have been at home and pruning in a bathtub for the past hour.

And that list took about ten minutes to type up. The stories all have fairly key elements to pull little tokens from..

 

[Tio_Narratore]

Being from New York, I lean towards the traditional definition of a tchotchke as a piece of bric-a-brac or a trinket, rather than any kind of trade show give-away. I've seen many an erotic trinket in souvenir shops around the world, so, in keeping with the linguistics of it all, how about little ceramic tsatskeles?