Howdy, y'all! Welcome back to the blog on this nasty, rainy Wednesday. It's kinda chilly here in Georgia (soon to be Florida!), and I'm hating on it hard. I love warm weather and warm rain, and I despise the cold. Yuck. Anywhooooooo... Today, we're talking about things. All the newfangled bookish gifts, merchandise, and how the sprayed edge has taken over the special edition. Why that last one? Because I feel like it goes with the others like mushy peas go with fried fish.
So, grab something awesome and warm to drink, strap in, get those mouse fingers warmed up to scroll, and let's get to it already!
***NOTE: Nothing here is an affiliate link. We don't do that on this blog. I may add a donation button at some point, but I'm still thinking it over. WDYT?
First up: Bookish Gifts
There are a ton of bookish items on shelves nowadays, and I feel, with all the books by Hoover now being made into movies, the stock and options therein have exploded. Let's look at a few I happen to just love.
Storiarts is a super cool site that offers book-themed merchandise at a nice cost. Link here. They have fingerless gloves (I own the ones with lines from The Raven on them), scarves, tees, headbands (I have one of those, too), baby stuff, blankets... There's too much to list here, but all are quality. I've given them as gifts, too.
Of course, there's always the bookish things on Amazon, but CafePress is amazing if you're an author who wants to create their own gear. Link here. Before they got serious about their licensing abilities, I made an Emancipation Monopoly game there. It was hella cool. Kinda wish I'd kept one. hahaha
Anyway, dive on in and see what you can make! These would be awesome gifts, and there's a wide array of stuff to customize. Wouldn't you love to be wrapped in Tobias's face at the beach? *evil grin*
Next: Merch Trends
This revolves around influencers, mostly. I don't know if you're up to speed on this, but a lot of times, new release ARCs (Advanced Reader Copies) are being sent with items around the book's theme. Historically, we sent ARCs for reviews, but now, it's become the norm to send items alongside to help the promoter do his/her/their job.
This also includes coloring books, which we did with our War and Pieces ~ Frayed Fairy Tales series. Feel free to download, print, and color this one. :)
Is this a good idea in this new world we find ourselves in? Well, I will say that several of the items sent cause quite a bit of discussion to start, so maybe it's genius.
On the other hand, when you have a book like Emancipation, what the hell do you send? Rope, Duct tape, and perfume that smells of murder? I'm not sure that would go over so well... I may be wrong, of course, but it seems to me this would make romance, sci-fi, and contemporary a much easier sell.
Thoughts?
Last: The Rise of the Sprayed Edge
You can find a TON of books with sprayed edges over on Etsy. Link here. Some of them are mouthwateringly beautiful, and some have custom covers rather than sprayed edges.
I see special editions in the bookstores all the time, and if there's a decorative edge, I'm all over it (usually only if I don't already have it, but there are a FEW exceptions). I also may, or may not, have a few pretties of titles I already owned because they came out with a special one that made me swoon. Lightlark was one of those. haha I mean, have you seen it? It's gorgeous. No clue if it has sprayed edges because I haven't removed it from the box. Yet. :) Hey, I'm waiting on my library to be finished, okay?
All that being said, I have a theory on why the sprayed edge became a thing. Wanna hear it? I know you do! I'm gonna tell you anyway. :P
You know all those designers that put the books on the shelf so the spines are to the wall so there's this weird, white, lined aesthetic when you look at it?
I know you can see where I'm going with this.
I think this is what started the sprayed-edge craze. No one wants their book on a shelf so the title is hidden. Not only is it terrible for the book (they're meant to be taken off the shelf by the spine), but it crushes all advertisement for the title. Do you browse someone's bookshelf at their house to see the white edges of the pages? No. You do it to see what titles they're reading and if you might want to read any of their stuff. Plus, hours are spent agonizing over the cover and assuring series are numbered correctly on the spines.
Enter the sprayed edge. It's like a huge screw you to those designers. hahaha! I love it.
What do you think? Have you come across unique bookish gifts, to-die-for merch, or a sprayed edge that knocks all others out of the park? Tell me about it!
I hope this post was educational and fun for you all. My fingers are starting to hurt from all this typing, so I'm gonna go! Thanks for reading. :)
Well, that's all for today, folks!
Until next time, WRITE ON!
Jo
