When Skyhorse Press (3421) made the decision to switch to e-catalogues for fall 2012, one of its sales reps asked, “What are we going to give out at BEA if we don’t have printed catalogues?”

It didn’t take long for associate publisher Bill Wolfsthal to jump at the chance to use his imagination to replace catalogues with USB pens. “Necessity is the mother of invention,” he said. “The book business has changed so drastically in the past few years that Skyhorse has to create things to keep up with the times.” With the innovative pens the company will both announce the launch of the e-catalogues and have a unique promotional item.

Skyhorse has four imprints—Allworth Press, Arcade Publishing, Sky Pony Press, and Sports Publishing. Wolfsthal said that up until now the company printed 300–400 copies of five different catalogues each season. “Moving to digital catalogues will definitely be cheaper than producing the traditional paper ones,” Wolfsthal said. Skyhorse will have 150 USB pens made for BEA, to be given out to key media contacts and customers. The pens will also include a PDF galley of Missed Periods and Other Grammar Scares by Jenny Baranick (Sept.), an edgy new title on grammar and usage to complement a 150-copy galley giveaway of the book.