That’s right, my friends. It’s time. Time to make an Imminent Danger bumper sticker. Please, contain your excitement. Falling off your chair and collapsing on the floor in a quivering wreck is undignified. And what are we without our dignity, I ask you? WELL?
Moving on. I want to make an Imminent Danger bumper sticker, mostly because I want one to stick on my car. That’s right, I have a car now! Technically it’s my mother’s, but she bought a new one and gifted me her old one — virtual high five for awesome mothers! The car’s a bit rusty, but it’s now mine, and I want to decorate it. So let’s talk bumper stickers!
I’m thinking text is probably the best option, since bumper stickers are small and I’m not sure intricate artwork would really come across well. I was originally thinking of just putting the book title on the sticker, but that doesn’t really do much to promote my book — and ideally, the sticker would both say “Yay! Imminent Danger!” and “Buy this book!”.
Any thoughts? I’m considering including my website on the sticker, but I’m worried that’s going to put too much text to read clearly from a distance. Hmmm.
My brother suggested just having one big word — “SHWOOP”. That is, of course, the sound my spaceships make when they leap across great distances. Very appropriate for a vehicle. But no one would get the reference, not to mention it wouldn’t advertise my book at all. Then again, having a SHWOOP sticker would be pretty cool. If a couple of people got them, we could be like a secret SHWOOP club.
What do you guys think?
Unrelated media of the day:
I may have shared this already, but whatever, it’s funny.
Source: http://imgur.com/gallery/poxZL
Michelle Proulx - Author 
*pauses laughing hysterically at unrelated media in order to provide feedback*
SHWOOP + website, maybe? People might be like, “SHWOOP? What in the heck is SHWOOP?” and feel curiosity-compelled to dash off to the website for answers. (:
Oooh I like it! Of course, the only problem with my website is that no one can remember it, lol. Would you remember “michelleproulx.com” if you saw it on a bumper sticker? EXACTLY!
Hmm… yeah, that’s a bump in the road. “Something with a lot of ‘L’s and an ‘X’, wasn’t it?…”
Hahaha. So close!
On the other hand, just having “IMMINENT DANGER” on a bumper sticker might keep people from tailgating you.
I vote “SHWOOP” and the title- SHWOOP large enough to see at a distance, title smaller, but visible at stoplights and in parking lots. Curiosity+easily google-able answer. 🙂
Another excellent idea! The title is probably easier to remember than my website name, that’s for sure. Quick. Close your eyes and spell my last name. As you have now learned, IT CAN’T BE DONE!
What about one of those smartphone scanner things, so people seeing the bumper sticker can go to the sale site?
Interesting! I don’t have any idea how those work, lol. But definitely something to look into! Although I’m not sure I want people getting that close to my car … 😀
I don’t know how close one has to get for them to work since I’ve never used one. I see them all over NYC, but I think most of those are illegal or paid a lot of money for permission. I believe you get a QR reading app on your smartphone, which is apparently free on the iPhone (just checked). Then you scan and it brings you to the embedded site.
There are qr code generators all over the net. Not sure what their working distance is. Think it depends on the size.
Hmmm. I might forego the QR code on the bumper sticker, because it sounds mighty complicated. Could be useful for something like posters or bookmarks though. Hmmm …
Posters could work. Not sure about bookmarks. I always assumed that if somebody has the bookmark and the book, they wouldn’t really need a code to send them to the purchase site.
Mmm true. Yeah, they can just take the bookmark home and use that. Posters it is! Or perhaps a billboard … I don’t suppose you have a few grand you could lend me to set up a billboard in Times square? 😀
Sorry. I have a coupon for Burger King though. Didn’t even know they had smoothies.
Smoothies are awesome. I recently discovered that McDonalds has a coffee iced frappe, which is unbelievably delicious.
I’m always scared to trust McDonalds. Mostly because I fear the long lost characters are what make up the special sauce.
Oh gosh, one of those complicated issues that I always love to help with!
However, I think my opinion has already been stated here. DANG. I would go with either IMMINENT DANGER or SHWOOP in big, than your website in perhaps not-so-big but still able to see if right up close. SHWOOP is fun, but makes more sense for people who have already READ the book–unfortunately, you’re trying to GET people to read the book. So I’m not sure. But I do think the whole IMMINENT DANGER on the back of a car is kind of funny. xDD
Wow, maybe that wasn’t helpful at all.
But good luck!
Both are fun, right? Hmmm. I think I might have to play around with a few designs and see what looks the best. Now, here’s the real question — if YOU were going to buy an Imminent Danger bumper sticker, what would YOU want it to say?
Immin Dang, of course. Psht. You don’t get much more inner-circle than that! xDD
Hehehe. Love it.
VISUALIZE TOTAL SSRISK DOMINATION! Followed by the website. In blue, of course. (What can I say, I love the Ssrisk.) What Charles means is a QR code, there are a number of websites that will create one for free.
A “QR” code, hmm? I’ll look into it. I’ve seen them all over the place, but they still baffle me, lol.
And a Ssrisk bumper sticker would be fantastic. Maybe I should make a series. Then it could be like Pogs or something, where people will try to collect the whole set. Hehehehehe.
I LOVE the SHWOOP idea! People will think they are missing out on the latest pop culture phenomenon and will scurry to find out the origin…your book of course. I was hoping the bumper sticker would be a mini version of the main cover design though, along with the “SHWOOP”. Then again, I have always liked to have my cake and eat it too. Go figure.
Another vote for SHWOOP! Yesssssssss.
It would be really cool to have the cover on the sticker, but bumper stickers are horizontal, and the main element on the cover — the embracing couple — are very much a vertical thing. So I think it might look a little odd. Hmmm … I’ll play around and see what looks best 🙂
Don’t forget almost everyone has a smartphone they can snap a photo with, so no one actually has to remember the website address. So I vote for multiple stickers — website, SHWOOP, book title and author, characters, etc. That’ll grab everyone’s attention! Then make sure you park your car all over town so people can see it.
Lol. I actually do really like the idea of multiple stickers — can’t have too much of a good thing, right?
Strangely I’ve considered a similar idea for promotion. Haven’t coem to a conclusion… but maybe that’s just me being lazy.
You could always get a semi-transparent rear window banner if you’re worried about size. But I think you need book title and website. And something that says it’s a book. As opposed to a warning to drivers behind you of traffic conditoins up ahead!
Mmmm good point. A semi-transparent rear window banner, eh? Heck, as long as it doesn’t impede my vision, sounds good to me 😀 Verrrrry interesting. We just might have a winner!
A winner? What do I win?
It won’t impede your vision when you blink or when you’re not looking in the rear-view mirror! 😉
Other ideas:
You could also get your whole car painted up in Imminent Danger livery. That would be cool!
And have your car horn modified to play random character’s catch phrases followed by a fast voice over announcing “Imminent Danger by Michelle Proulx. Get it now from all good bookstores and online at MichelleProulx.com.”
I voted for SHWOOP though I agree with others about adding the website and probably Imminent Danger as well. Sounds like a great idea 🙂
I’m starting to think that multiple bumper stickers might be the best way to go … too many options!!! AHHHH!
I had another idea, but SHWOOP seems to be so popular, I will bring the two ideas together.
I vote for ‘Make Space for Imminent Danger. SHWOOP!’ You could have a second one that reads; ‘Imminent Danger – do you speak SSRISK?’
Capitalise the last work for EFFECT.
I LIKE your IDEA, especially the part about CAPITALIZING words for EFFECT 🙂
I thought you might be able to put together a whole series to tantalize potential readers. ‘Imminent Danger – are you READY?’ You could perhaps add an Amazon ‘A’ after it so that peeps would have somewhere to find it too.
I like it! Although would they get annoyed with me using their logo? I suppose it’s not bad publicity for them …
I have it on every one of my bookmarks. Nothing’s happened yet. *twitches as the doorbell rings*