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Source: https://writers.stackexchange.com/a/42503
License name: CC BY-SA 3.0
License URL: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/

Source: https://writers.stackexchange.com/a/42503
License name: CC BY-SA 3.0
License URL: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/

Thinking a bit further on the comment I've made, I think **bookmarks** are the most effective. Here's why:

I'm offered a flyer, if I take it, I read, then throw away. Or, I find it interesting, stuff it into my bag, and forget it's there. Same with brochures, or any other object I have no immediate use for. A bookmark, on the other hand, has a use. It goes into a book. Next time I open that book, I see the bookmark, I'm reminded of whatever it is that's being advertised. At which point, the bookmark is still useful, so I keep using it, and seeing it.

I'm fairly sure I've read somewhere that advertising works in part through exposure: one is not likely to buy something one has never heard of, but one feels more secure buying something one feels familiar with, to some extent. So the advertising attempts to bring an object from the realm of "never heard of it" to the realm of "sufficiently familiar to try it". By repeatedly making the suggestion, through repeatedly exposing your potential buyer to the same bookmark, you're making it easier for them to buy your book.

(The Israeli Society of Science Fiction and Fantasy advertises conventions on bookmarks - no flyers, no posters, no swag. At every convention, when you collect your tickets, you're offered a bookmark with the date, location and website of the next one. I don't know if the main consideration is effectiveness or environmental, but everybody is happy with this method. So clearly it works to _some_ extent.)

Original score: 1