by Debbie Burke
Today, we’re crawling down in the weeds to discuss a couple of minor details about promotion and marketing. Will these help you sell thousands of books? Nope. Probably not even hundreds. But every book sale is precious and small details matter.
Having been in business, I have decent marketing knowledge and experience. But self-promotion is a big problem for me so I’m always looking for ways to make it less awkward.
My new book, Fruit of the Poisonous Tree, #9 in the Tawny Lindholm Thriller series, published October 1.
That prompted me to rethink business cards and bookmarks. Yup, I warned this post was going to be about teeny-tiny details.
Author business cards are necessary. They lend a professional tone that says you’re a serious writer. Even if you haven’t yet published any books, it’s still a good idea to have cards printed with your name and contact info (email, website address, social media handles) to give to people you meet at conferences, book events, classes, etc.
Note: for privacy and safety, I don’t recommend printing phone number or physical address on business cards. If I want a particular someone to have my number, I handwrite it on the card.
Designing cards is a trial-and-error process. Mine have gone through many iterations. I use Canva (free) to design them. I started on the cheap with plain vanilla, one sided black & white. Next upgrade, I tried a slightly fancier, glossy finish version with a background pattern of books. My name, website, and email were printed on the cute background. But for aging eyes, lack of contrast made the text too difficult to read. Then I tried color but only one side. The most recent versions are two-sided and color.
Yes, each version is progressively more expensive, but the expense is deductible.
Business cards make an important impression at conferences, signings, teaching gigs, appearances. When you meet dozens or hundreds of new people, you want to stand out so they remember you in a positive way.
A couple of years ago, I discovered thumbnails of book covers make a much stronger impression than a straight business card. People turn the card over and say: “Did you write all these books?” “Yes.” “Wow! Cool!”
Whether you have one book or many, IMHO, adding cover images to your business cards is worth the expense.
A recent design is two-sided, full color. Side 1 is my name and the kinds of writing I do (novelist, journalist, blogger), my website address, social media links, and email.
Side 2 has thumbnails of book covers and sales outlets.
Here’s a sample with six book covers.
As I kept adding to the series, the second side of the card got crowded. At eight books, there was no more room for expansion.
Hmmm, did I need to consider a larger format such as a bookmark?
Many authors give out bookmarks, but I never had because I don’t use them myself. Why should I waste money on something that likely ends up in the wastebasket?
Did I have a lesson to learn? Yes!
As an experiment, I had color bookmarks printed. One side was my name, photo, website, and where to buy books. The second side showed thumbnails of eight book covers.
Last January, Barnes and Noble opened a new store in our town and hosted signings by local authors. Hundreds of eager readers showed up because there hadn’t been a major bookstore in the area since Borders shut down in 2011.
In addition to the books on my table, I laid out business cards and bookmarks. I noticed people didn’t pick up many cards, but they did pick up bookmarks.
Maybe I needed to rethink my attitude that bookmarks are a waste of money.
With the launch of book 9, again I’d run out of space for covers.
How to feature the new book?
I put the cover of Fruit of the Poisonous Tree on one side with my name, website, and where to buy. On the second side were the covers for the rest of the books.
I started carrying a pocketful of bookmarks in addition to business cards.
Pro tip: buy clothes with pockets.
Zumba friends have always been supportive of my books. When I offered the new bookmarks at Zumba class, people snapped them up. Several women asked if they could take additional ones to give to friends and their book clubs. One is heading to Arizona for the winter and wanted to share bookmarks with her reading group there.
The pocketful I’d brought to class quickly ran out. I brought more to another Zumba class with different people. Ran out again. People I didn’t know asked questions about my books. Passersby in the gym stopped to listen to our conversations and asked for bookmarks.
Why will people turn down a business card but eagerly accept a bookmark?
Here’s the first lesson that I needed to learn:
Many readers like and use bookmarks. Because of tunnel vision, I had discounted their importance.
What I want or like doesn’t matter; what the reader wants or likes does matter.
In salesmanship, there are five steps to making a sale:
- Attention.
- Interest.
- Desire.
- Conviction.
- Decision.
Bookmarks accomplish two of the five steps necessary to make a sale.
The second lesson: people perceive business cards and bookmarks in different ways.
A business card is more than an identification and contact tool. It sends a subtle psychological message. When you accept a salesperson’s card, their unspoken request is, “You are going to buy this car from me, aren’t you?”
That’s why it’s called a business card. If you take one, that indicates an interest in purchasing goods or services.
Accepting their card is their first step in breaking down a buyer’s sales resistance.
When someone doesn’t want to buy or isn’t sure, they may be reluctant to take an author’s card because they don’t want their acceptance to be perceived as a commitment that they’re going to purchase your book. The implied pressure, even though it’s slight, can leave people with an uncomfortable impression of the author.
We don’t want that!
A bookmark is different. It’s a colorful, useful gift, not an obligation to buy. It’s a friendly reminder of books they may want to read. Reading is a pleasurable activity. That leads to a positive association with the author.
We do want that!
Of course, you’d like them to buy your book, but a bookmark is accepted in a different spirit than a business card. It’s a welcoming, open-ended invitation, not a commitment.
Watch the difference in people’s reactions when you offer them a business card vs. a bookmark.
Business cards and bookmarks serve different purposes and authors do need both.
It’s too soon in my experiment to tell if bookmarks lead to more sales but so far the favorable reactions from readers lead me to believe they will. Anything that increases reader interest and engagement can’t hurt.
~~~
TKZers: Do you use business cards, bookmarks, or both? Do you notice a difference in people’s reactions? Any tips to share about effective personal contact between authors ans readers?
~~~
Cover by Brian Hoffman
Jerome Kobayashi, 80, worked long and hard to achieve his dream cherry orchard on Flathead Lake. But now someone wants to destroy that dream.
Can investigator Tawny Lindholm and attorney Tillman Rosenbaum prevent that?
Ebook $3.99 or FREE on Kindle Unlimited
I have bookmarks and always get lots of takers. I tell them it can be used in any book. Not sure if it helps sales, but it can’t hurt.
Sharon, thanks for confirming that bookmarks are popular. Like chicken soup for a cold, it can’t hurt and might help!.
My first novel isn’t out yet, but looking at this as a reader I can say that business cards end up in a Rolodex (yes, I still have one) never to be seen again unless it’s someone I need to reach again for some reason—then it goes straight into my phone.
Bookmarks are placed in a letter holder that sits next to the loveseat in my office where I like to read. When starting a new book I grab one at random. When I’m done, the bookmark goes back in the letter holder to be used again—a regular reminder, even if the particular author isn’t my cup of tea. I have dug through bookmarks to find a name/book/author to give a friend. I’ve never gone back through the Rolodex.
Wow, Robert, thanks for giving us your take on business cards and bookmarks. So interesting!
You make a great additional point that people now use phones instead of Rolodex.
Thanks for chiming in!
I gave up on bookmarks after I had too many books to feature, and doing new ones all the time got expensive. At conferences, the giveaway tables are still filled with paper handouts at the end. However, handing them out to people directly adds that personal touch. Early on, when I had fewer books, I used them like business cards. Now, I have business cards with my name and dagger through a heart logo on the front with my website and email address. The back has 2 QR codes sending people to my website and Facebook author page.
I use a company called Printing4Less, based in Montana. High quality work, substantial glossy stock, and great customer service. Not cheap, but you get what you pay for.
Terry, with your amazing quantity of books, your bookmarks would need to be four feet long!
QRU code are becoming much more popular and make a lot of sense.
Seeing leftover bookmarks at conferences contributed to my earlier prejudice against them. But handing them out in person results in a totally different connection between reader and author.
I love bookmarks (but I often recycle Christmas cards as bookmarks because it gives me pleasure to see them throughout the year and I don’t feel guilty about throwing away something thoughtful sent by friends and family). Printing your book covers on bookmarks is a great way to promote your backlist–which is a huge thing now for publishers as they catch on to the #booktok wave on TikTok. I’m giving a presentation to some writers this evening about backlist promotion & will add this one. Thanks!
Thanks, Kelly! Best wishes for a successful presentation!
I also used old Christmas cards for bookmarks back before I read mostly on Kindle. They’re a lovely reminder of friends.
I don’t think swag sells books. I give a biz card only if someone asks where they can find out more about me or my books. If you want to sell, I think a better idea may be a card with a book cover on one side, and a QR code on the other that goes directly to Amazon.
I still have leftovers of my first bookmark, done for my first Bouchercon back around 2008. I use them myself now.
Jim, save those bookmarks from 2008–someday they’ll be collectibles!
I went to a writing conference last year and was the only attendee without a business card — I’ve published short stories but not books, so I hadn’t thought about getting them just for networking. I have some now, though.
Janet, at early writing conferences in the ’90s, I noticed authors exchanging business cards. If someone asked for I my contact info, I had to write it on a scrap of paper. That’s when I first realized to be taken seriously as a writer, business cards were necessary.
My publisher furnishes me with bookmarks that match my covers and I hand them out wherever I go. A few years back, they gave me options on size — regular or small. I chose small because it would be something different…the size was 1″ x 2.75″…
Not what I expected at all. BUT when I go to book signings, it’s the bookmark readers pick out and take.
Like you, I keep bookmarks and often give them out when I’m in a setting where people ask about my books. I also leave them at my local library.
Pat, how interesting about the teeny size. That seems like it would get lost too easily, at least for me who’s always dropping stuff.
I always include a bookmark inside books that local bookstores carry. I also sign whatever stock they have on hand whenever I stop in.
Helpful post, Debbie!
I printed up business cards with my first two cozies on them and a QR code for a free download of the prequel from Book Funnel when I attended this year’s Left Coast Crime, and gave them away at the “Meet the First Time Author” breakfast. While I wasn’t strictly speaking a first time author, I was very much a debut mystery author and so was invited to have an author table at the breakfast and give a one minute pitch of my book to the room.
I’ve since given out my mystery author card without the QR code.
Dale,,thanks for bringing up the point that authors need different ways to identify themselves at different points in their careers. A shift in genres calls for a fresh approach.
I like the idea of the QRU code leading to your free download. Very smart b/c people like free.
Great information, Debbie.
I like the job vistaprint did on my business cards. They have some nice design options for the front of the card. I have two QR codes on the back, one for my website and the other for my Amazon author page.
I haven’t done a bookmark since the last one for the Watch Mystery series, but you’ve convinced me I need to come up with a new one. Even in this age of ebooks, people love bookmarks.
Has anyone considered magnetic business cards?
Thanks, Kay.
I have several magnetic business cards from authors on my refrigerator. But pretty soon I forget they’re there and just focus on the note they’re holding. That said, they are useful and lasting.
Good analysis of the different uses of business cards and bookmarks, Debbie. Like you, I use a business card for business contacts — say with an agent, or someone who wants to invite me to her book club, leaving the back side blank for the phone # or other note.
Bookmarks are a must for that author-reader connection. Even if a reader mainly reads ebooks or audio, I offer them a bookmark as a reminder of my titles and they are happy to take them; not the intended use, maybe, but still useful!
My take on leaving bookmarks at cons: I count them, check regularly and refresh if necessary, and pick them up before I leave. Mine get more interest at the smaller Malice Domestic than at the larger Bouchercon. I dislike swag, but bookmarks are a whole other thing!
Leslie, so glad you stopped by! You’re the author who tipped me over the edge into trying bookmarks. I keep learning from you, my friend!
And I from you!