To swag, or not to swag

To this point in my career I have never once given out swag.

That has nothing to do with not wanting to, and everything to do with remaining largely clueless on the value of swag.

My sister (and webmistress and critic and all around good guy) keeps telling me I should offer swag and I'm considering it for THE BLASTED LANDS, but I also have to consider the cost to advantage ratio. I'm hitting three cons this year and they cost money to attend, you see, and I'm also exceedingly fond of having a roof over my head, so that's a consideration I can't ignore.

So I'm really very interested ins hat everyone else has to say about the benefits of swag. And don't be too surprised if I ask a few people where they get their swag made, because, you know, you never know.

Speaking of THE BLASTED LANDS, here's an example of what I normally do in place of swag: Here's a free story and just for grins, here's the first few chapters of the book for you to view at your leisure online.

The story took me a few hours. I value those hours as they could have gone to the next project, but I also truly value the chance to catch a reader's eye and maybe make someone seriously consider looking at my published works.

See? I'm very giving. I just don't normally make swag.

But I'm open to convincing.