First, thank you to the Maine Crime Writers blog for inviting me into the fold. I have been reading this blog from the moment I learned of it at the New England Crime Bake conference, many years ago. It is an honor to be included among these fine crime writers.

This is my first year as a published author and, consequently, my first time on “the book fair circuit.” My debut novel came out in January, and, that month, a fellow author asked me if I wanted to join a library event as a substitute for another writer who couldn’t attend. I didn’t have any copies of my book yet to sell, and I hadn’t even designed a bookmark to promote it.

With the event around the corner, I made my own, taking my book cover image and adding my website. I shrunk it down to get twelve images on a page. After photocopying, I took out my old Aldi laminator and then cut them up.

Blaze Orange Mini Bookmarks

A good, short-term fix. However, nine months later, I’m still making them. I now call them my “mini-bookmarks.” When a potential reader comes up to my table, or, more likely, when I call out to a passerby, I offer one. I know from the marketing side of my other career that getting the word out, over and over again, is important, and having someone walk away with a photo of my book and how to find my website may generate a future sale.

I’ve given out hundreds of these bookmarks. What has happened to them?

At an event, I see folks put them in their shopping bags, purses, or back pockets. I’m sure some people take one to appease me (or to shut me up). Most of the recipients don’t walk away with my novel. Did they keep my bookmark to use in someone else’s book? I’m definitely okay with that, hoping that glancing occasionally onto the bright orangeness of the image will prompt them one day to consider it. Maybe they actually used it to remember the name of my book or to sign up for my newsletter. Most bookmarks, however, probably end up in the trash.

I think of the ones I recently acquired from other authors. Besides holding a reader’s place, these bookmarks have other missions such as providing a playlist to accompany a book or to share information about a writing award. Some of those I picked up this year are still on my desk, others in random books, and even I have recycled some after connecting to the author’s Instagram page. If I’ve dumped their bookmarks, does that mean I’m not interested in these authors or their writing?  Of course not. No one can keep everything.

Maureen Milliken Bookmark

Cass’ Playlist for In Solo Time

So where have mine ended up? We writers are a tender lot. As British author, Anthony Horowitz says, “Most writers live with imposter syndrome, a chronic fear that at any moment they’ll be found out and their books unceremoniously taken off the shelves and pulped.”

If my mini-bookmark served no purpose to the potential reader, does that mean my book didn’t either? Hopefully not. It’s an internal battle I will need to get used to, and I soldier on, my copy machine spitting out more paper bookmarks, bravely ready for their lamination and journey to the next fair.

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P.S. Want to win a bundle of mysteries to read during the long, cold winter? Just leave a comment on one of our posts between now and the end of October and you could be the lucky recipient.

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Allison Keeton’s debut novel is Blaze Orange, Book One in the Midcoast Maine Mystery series. Arctic Green, Book Two, hits the streets (and snowmobile trails) in February 2026.