Let's Discuss: Author Swag

 

So I thought of another discussion which I may or may not have talked about somewhere down the line, but revisiting after a few years is always fun too! Today's topic...

Author Swag

As a reader I have always loved author swag! I still do! Although I do find it hard to display the items as times depending on what it is. For the art prints I end up putting these in a photo album of sorts so I can look through them all. I have a few different sizes going on currently and they are already filling up! 2 of them are filled with mainly A Touch of Magic Designs prints because they have some seriously pretty stuff! I have a whole book dedicated to Stephanie Garber pictures of Caraval and OUABH!

Other items I still enjoy, but they end up sitting in a box...or what I like to call a "treasure chest!" Lol. Some things are just hard to display. Also since I am house hunting still, it's not possible to display them since my shelves are all in storage too. I mean, when that day comes and I get to move in and have my shelves up I know I will be overwhelmed as I have shelf displaying things packed away in storage as well and I still occasionally buy another one every now and then.

But with the fun author swag, I am always hard pressed on what to do with them. I do remember one instagram friend had put all her bookmarks into a photo collage sort of thing that I think would be fun! I end up saving the bookmarks I get but I never use them really as I end up using one from my personal collection.

But still, when an author has swag at their signing, I end up taking a piece or two. Especially for character art. It's the "other" items I have trouble trying to display. Since some pieces are so old now, the books aren't really current or relevant even if some are in ongoing series.

I just don't know what to do with it all. I don't want to get rid of it after all this time, but I feel like I need a better thing to do with them all.

What do you do with the author swag you have? Do you display it somehow? For items like bookmarks and other things that are harder to display--unless you're very crafty--what do you do with those? I guess I am just looking for ideas!