Vote for chocolate

[pbray]

ETA: As of 1/15/2006 voting is now closed. Final choices were FIRST BETRAYAL and PATRICIA BRAY printed on Gold and Dark Green M&M's.

janni shared a link to the Custom Printed M&M's website, and I've been toying with the idea of ordering M&M's to share at Boskone.

Each M&M is printed with a maximum of 2 lines, with 8 characters per line. You can include two different sayings in your order, so I'll be picking the top two.

Please take a moment and vote for your favorite(s). And FYI, THE FIRST BETRAYAL is the title of my next release.

[Poll #648671]

Comments

[fancythat2.livejournal.com]

Actually, I like all of them. :-) What a cool promotional idea.

[rolanni.livejournal.com]

I like "Lizards Rule", and so voted for it, though "First Betrayal" will likely serve you better.

I thought about "I Dare" M&Ms, nine-bucks-and-change for eight ounces of the little devils is Beyond Dear...

[pbray.livejournal.com]

They are an expensive gimmick, but as a one-time indulgence I can justify them.

jennifer_dunne suggested they might make good contest prizes, which is another thought. I might save a bag to give out when I raffle of an ARC later this spring.

[mmarques.livejournal.com]

That is so cool!

[janni.livejournal.com]

I'm jealous that you have a title that will fit on an M&M!

I think you should do your name and the title--they let you do two different versions in one order.

[elaine-brennan.livejournal.com]

Much as I like "Lizards Rule" as a choice, you might not want to do that for Boskone, since lots of people might assume it was referring to NESFA Press's GoH book, Giant Lizards from Another Star, by Ken MacLeod.

[pbray.livejournal.com]

Great point, thanks!

[wen-spencer.livejournal.com]

When I attended a RT convention, I sat next to a well-known romance writer who said that name-branding with YOUR name is more important than with the title of your book...because the title of your most recent book is always changing.

Ironically, I can't pull her name out of my memory though...

[pbray.livejournal.com]

Especially for the prolific romance writers who have 3, 4 or even more books out in any given year.

[larryhammer]

Wouldn't their ban on product names preclude the book title?

---L.

[pbray.livejournal.com]

Interesting point. From an intellectual property standpoint, I'm not certain book titles are considered product names. Book titles can't be copyright, and under US law they can't be trademarked if they are the title of a single work. They are often duplicated.

In any case, this would probably skate by since it's not the actual book title in full, merely a reference to it.

[larryhammer]

Good point -- especially the non-trademarkable thing.

---L.

[pbray.livejournal.com]

I did some research on book titles when my first book was released. "A LONDON SEASON" had been used by several previous books, and this was the first time I became aware that book titles were recycled. That's when I found out that they couldn't be copyright or trademarked. Something that readers don't think about, unless you run into one of those unfortunate cases where two publishers decide to release books with the same title in the same month.

Though you can trademark titles of series such as XXX for Dummies, etc. Just not the title of a single work.

[sarcastic-elf.livejournal.com]

I vote for 'First Betrayal' on one and 'May 2006' for the second. A sweet way for people to remember when the book is being released. ^_^

[pbray.livejournal.com]

Ooh, cool thought on the date.