Promotion. It can determine the difference between a flop and a hit. There was some promoting for the Sweep series, but if it was enough promotion is left up for debate. *shrugs* Below is a list of all those promotional endeavors that I could find.

What you see on your left was found in the February/March 2002 issue of Seventeen magazine. This same promotion was found on the magazine's website. The ad stated if your sent a request letter to publishers before June 30, 2002, you will get the first Sweep book, Book of Shadows, for free. How's that? From what I heard, the book was the same as the retail book, but they had a little flap that advertised the other books in the series.

If you can't read what it says, here it is:

Coming your way...

A hot new series that will leave your spellbound!

For a limited time, get a copy of the book that started it all--at no cost!

Just be one of the first 5,000 requests received.

Online Razor Bill, a teen magazine brought to you by the Penguin Putnam publishers, featured Sweep in its first issue. They had an interview I did with Cate Tiernan (it was edited; if you want to view the complete interview, click here). It also had a Sweep Quiz to test your Sweep knowledge. Lastly, they had the same promotion that was featured in Seventeen magazine.

Sweep's official site aired the Summer of 2001 as a simple site. Eventually, some things were added such as the Wicca holidays, new graphics, and the interview featured at the Razorbill zine. In promotion of Night's Child, Sweep Super Special, an online quiz was put up for fans try to guess what will happen in the the final Sweep book. The answers to the quiz will be revealed June 2003 in the new issue of the Razorbill zine (which is up now).

The Alloy.com catalogue featured some of the Sweep books for sale. Unfortunately, Alloy.com, who built the concept of Sweep in the first place, never really promoted Sweep--well, not as much as the series Fearless.

Over at Teen Reads, they had small article about Sweep.

In the Spring of 2003, Cate Tiernan was invited to speak at the Elf Fantasy Fair 2003, one of the largest fantasy fairs in Europe. In their magazine, they did an interview with her (in Dutch, so I don't know what it says if I had access to it). The cover to your left is the issue which contains the Cate Tiernan interview. Months later, a Dutch publishing company published the first two books in the Netherlands--and more are on the way. Check out Elf Fantasy's site here.

Back in the US, Penguin Putnam did another special promotion for Sweep. Books 2- 8 were sold at discounted price: $3.33 instead of the regular $4.99 at selected bookstore chains.

Last Modified: Wednesday, 10/15/08

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