Merch vs Swag

Both merch and swag are ways of promoting yourself as an author and your books. While swag is typically lower cost items like bookmarks or stickers that are given away for free, merch is typically products like shirts, hoodies, mugs, or blankets that are sold to your readers rather than given for free.

And for authors especially, merch expands the world of your books by bringing your story, setting, and characters to life. Merch takes them off the page and into tangible, wearable forms like shirts, phone cases, or tote bags.

But I don't have room in my office, or even in my house, to store a bunch of shirts, hoodies, and tote bags!?! And I don't want to spend all day shipping products to people. I have to spend my time writing!

Believe me, I understand, which is why I recommend offering your merch through a print-on-demand, or POD, printer.