M Is For…

Merchandise!

And March.

That’s right, after months of planning, scheming, and designing I’ve finally launched the first five items in my merchandise line. Even more exciting, this week I’ll be launching a giveaway! Quick details on that before I get into my regular musings: The contest will be on Facebook, so if you haven’t already, like my page. The giveaway will start on Wednesday, March 4th, and run for a whole week. Entries will be based on post likes, shares, and comments, and I’ll be posting the more official rules on my page pretty soon. The winner will be able to select one of the new Untold items for free. So start browsing, and see what you want!

As for being an author who has recently launched a line of merchandise… Wow. Somehow seeing t-shirts and mugs with lines from Untold, as well as hoodies headlining the writerly encouragement that ended up being my most popular tweet, makes me feel legitimate. That’s the first thing. It also helped that I designed the images entirely by myself, so what you see is straight from me. The blue lettering on the t-shirts is exactly how I imagined Robin’s words under the bridge looking, and the mug is a design that I would want to drink out of myself. I’m not going to lie to you guys, I’m proud of that.

But the next stage is one of terror. What have I done? Here I am, throwing all of my time and energy into marketing my book, and now suddenly I have to divide my resources and start advertising my other products as well. The idea behind it is that it would help gather excitement and spread the word, but along with every new endeavor comes the terrifying thought, “Was this a bad idea?”

Having launched this only a week ago, I really can’t tell you for sure. Mostly, I really just want to create a little more excitement and depth for those of you who have grown to love the world on Untold. I want you to feel a little shiver when you put on your shirt that says, “I thought you didn’t paint”. I want you to feel encouraged to write when you don the hoodie that reminds you that you like to write. I want you to feel magical when you drink out of the mug that reads, “Tonight is a night for fairytales”.

I’m going to keep working on this, too. I’m going to keep listening to you guys, and add more and more to the collection until your favorite characters and favorite parts of the story have a new kind of life that none of us have seen before.

— Amy