Just as book covers must catch the eye of potential readers, book promo boxes try to stand out amidst a sea of plain bubble mailer envelopes. From printing custom boxes featuring cover art designs to offering exclusive book-related swag, debut authors and book publicists are going the extra mile to make sure their titles get noticed by influencers.
How can debut authors stand out? Chelsea Devantez, author of the memoir I Shouldn’t Be Telling You This (But I’m Going to Anyway), published in 2024 by Hanover Square Press, took a strategic approach from the day she signed her book deal. As a TV writer and producer, she’s received “really wild promo boxes during Emmys season or when a show launches,” and on the advice of her manager wanted to do something similar.
Devantez worked with New Nuevo, a New Mexico–focused company, which printed, constructed, packed, and shipped 60 boxes, with print copies provided by her publisher. For a total expenditure of $1,500 ($1,200 for the boxes and $300 for a designer to create a custom box based on her mockups), Devantez partnered with companies she’d highlighted in her newsletter or knew of via her podcast, Glamorous Trash. They selected products related to the book, including a Poketo journal adorned with a “future memoir” sticker and a Cheekbone Beauty red lipstick, echoing a key chapter. The box included a note highlighting the items and a card about the book.
“I wanted to make sure we didn’t pack the boxes full of stuff,” said Devantez, and she included material that “helped tell the story of the book in the right way.” She believes the box’s outer design made a bigger impact than the note inside it. Three quarters of the recipients were acquaintances, with the rest influencers (many of whom posted videos on Instagram or TikTok) or celebrities. Through the mailing, Devantez connected with actor Rachel Dratch, who later appeared on Devantez’s podcast and had her on as a guest on hers.
Jessica Elefante, author of the 2023 nonfiction book Raising Hell, Living Well (Ballantine Books), about living free from influence, took a bold approach by sending a customized pizza box sealed with a message relevant to the book’s emphasis. The shape references her time getting by on dollar slices, documented in the book. Included in the boxes, which she personally signed, were disco ball keychains (disco also plays a role in the book), lighters with a book quote, handmade zines, the book, and a patch. She purchased the pizza boxes from a restaurant supply store and estimates the cost for each box and its contents was $15.
Elefante curated a list of 50 recipients—a mix of journalists, Substack users, Booktokers, and Instagram users. “So many people and publishers send these cookie-cutter swag bags or galleys with no personal touch.” She chose to go the opposite route. “I wanted the people who received them to know that I sought them out specifically because I respected them, their work, or thought they would love mine,” she said.
Elefante considers the experiment a success, as it landed her on over 20 podcasts and got her featured in over 15 Substack newsletters. It’s her belief that without it, “we wouldn’t have had too much of anything in terms of publicity.” She noted that the effort also generated buzz from people who wanted to know more about the author sending out the pizza boxes and how could they get one. She is glad she put in the time (about 12 to 16 hours a week for a month), but if she had it to do over again, she’d have started earlier than the month leading up to publication. “I wouldn’t have waited to see what my publisher did or didn’t have in store for me and my book. I would’ve just gone ahead and also made sure the timeline for everything was in line for the timeline for marketing and promotion.”
Other authors have emphasized their book’s message with targeted mailings. Lauren Marie Fleming’s publisher, Entangled imprint Amara, paid for a mailing of custom boxes featuring her 2024 queer romance Because Fat Girl on the box, with a galley, author’s letter, and the book’s tagline, “For everyone who’s ever felt too big, too weird, too queer—or just too much—comes a happily ever after for the rest of us.” Fleming said this “struck a chord with people during their unboxing, and one person even started crying reading my letter inside.”
Tawny Lara, author of 2023 sober dating guide Dry Humping and co-founder of non-alcoholic drink brand (parentheses), has sent a box featuring the book and two drinks to reviewers and media who’ve requested it after reading a press release, and also sells the boxes online. Lara, who teaches a course on being your own publicist, said that the boxes, which cost her around $40, have gotten her media attention identifying her “as an expert in the sober / sober-curious / non-alcoholic drink industry,” and helped get her book stocked in NA bottleshops.
Influencers are often a target of these modern book promotions. Publishing strategist Kathleen Schmidt said the practice is fairly new but has exploded in recent years with the growth and impact of book influencers. “In the early aughts, we’d send packages of goodies to book review editors and producers. Now it seems those efforts have transferred to influencers.”
Schmidt called the purpose two-fold: “An influencer’s job is to be aspirational, so whatever they show their followers on Instagram and TikTok must meet that goal. Additionally, the idea of the book box is to show exclusivity, which often drives demand. Consumers see what influencers have, and they want it.”
Fanta Diallo, senior publicist at Liveright (an imprint of Norton), is always happy if an influencer posts about a book promo box or if it “leads to a continued conversation on social media.” These boxes are created on a case-by-case basis, such as with the 2024 reissue of M.G. Lord’s nonfiction title Forever Barbie, with about half going to influencers and half to media. “For media, as long as it gets a reviewer or editor to take another look at the project in question for review possibility, we consider that a win. Often times it’s just about making a specific book stand out,” she said.
Sometimes, even a carefully targeted campaign doesn’t yield the desired results. Writer Anna David, who did a promo mailing for the 2021 reissue (under her own imprint) of her 2009 novel Party Girl, wanted to emphasize the tagline “reformed party girl,” so she sent shorts emblazoned with those words to 20 sober influencers, which cost her about $1,000 (she was able to sell extras she had made). “I envisioned a social media sensation, with everyone posting their Reformed Party Girl butts in short shorts,” she recounted. “Instead I heard almost nothing. When I followed up, some said thank you, others didn’t respond at all.” While she doesn’t regret the effort, she said her expectations were overly high. “I think you have to put it out there as a sort of celebration of your book and then be pleasantly surprised if people post it.”
When sending promo boxes, authors and publicists should make sure they’re familiar with their audience, lest their efforts backfire, as was the case with a box for Casey McQuiston’s 2024 romance The Pairing, which included a sex toy that recipients weren’t made aware of prior to receiving it. As publicity expert Schmidt emphasizes, “You can’t assume that all objects are acceptable to each influencer, so you need to ‘know’ as much about them as possible.”
Bottom line: While Schmidt has yet to work on a custom promo box for a client, it’s something she’s considering. “I don’t see the influencer boxes going away, but I do think publishers must get more creative with them,” she notes. She suggests authors and publishers work with brands on collaborating on unique items so a box contains more than just a book.
Rachel Kramer Bussel is a freelance writer specializing in books and culture. She also writes and edits erotica and teaches erotic writing workshops. Follow her on Twitter: @raquelita
