First, I’d like to say congratulations to the two winners of my first Goodreads giveaway for Vaetra Unveiled! The books have been shipped and are on their way as I type this.
Now, on to my title subject…
I recently joined an online conversation about book character trading cards. Yep, it’s just what it sounds like: trading cards for book characters, done in the sports card tradition. The romance genre already has a nice site appropriately named Romance Trading Cards that lists authors and their cards.
How readers acquire the cards is a bit vague. Some authors offer a free card at book signings and conferences, but those venues seem awfully limited in scope to me. Plus, some of us don’t do signings or conferences. Other ideas I’ve seen were having readers who wanted a card send a SASE to the author, or simply selling the cards through an online store.
I’m not sure what the right approach is, but I suspect that a group of authors, like the fantasy authors of the Magic Appreciation Tour, could do something fun together, like mimic the old bubble gum pack of random trading cards from days of yore. For example, we could sell a pack of 5 or 10 with a random selection of cards. Readers would occasionally get a card they already owned, but that is what would stimulate the “trading” part of the hobby. The logistics necessary to pull something like this off would be daunting, but it’s fun to think about.
In fact, I’ve been thinking about promotional items a lot lately, and my first Goodreads book giveaway really brought it home. When my wife ships her books, she throws in a custom bookmark or some other goodie. I’ve got nothing.
We are planning to produce Vaetra Chronicles business cards and bookmarks soon, which will be great. When people find out I’m an author, they frequently ask for more information about how they can find my book. We usually have to scramble for something to write on/with so I can pass on the info. A business card would handle that situation nicely. And bookmarks are great freebies to offer any place readers gather.
But when it comes to promo items, I have to admit that the trading card concept intrigues me the most. I can’t help but imagine what a Ru-Rahl the Arbolenx card might look like. Or Sulana Delano the Sword Sorceress striking a pose with her crossbow. Who knows, perhaps I’ll get my chance to explore these dreams if trading cards become popular in the fantasy genre.
In the meantime, I’ll stick with good old business cards, bookmarks, and postcards.
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What do you think about the idea of book character trading cards? As a reader, would you collect them? As an author, would you be interested in creating them? Tell me in the comments!
