Writers often forget to use business cards for book marketing. Although internet marketing is useful, meeting someone and talking to them in person has an even greater impact. You can tell them all about the book you’ve written and get them all excited, but people’s memories are short. If you hand them a business card, it will help them remember. Think of your card as a miniature sales letter for your book.
Here are six tips to help your business cards make a lasting impression when you’re book marketing:
1. Make sure your business card is easy to read. They’re small so you need to make sure that people can read it. Don’t use a font that’s smaller than 10 pt and use a san serif font like Verdana. The color of your text should contrast sharply with the background. Double check to make sure there aren’t any spelling or grammar mistakes. Either of these will leave a bad impression.
2. On the front of your card, place a short, attention getting phrase that people will remember. Focus on how your book can benefit the reader. If you’re writing non fiction, you might write, “You can learn ten ways to cure baldness”. If you’re writing fiction, you could write something like, “Follow Detective Smith as she tries to solve the most difficult murder of her career”.
3. You should always write on both sides. It costs a little more, but gives you a chance to add a lot more book marketing for only a little more money. What do you put on the back? Write a short sales pitch. If you get a book review or a testimonial from someone who has read the book, you can use that as your sales pitch.
4. Place a free offer on the card. People love free stuff. You want people to go to your website and buy your book. By offering something free, you might just get someone go to your website that would not have bothered otherwise. If you’re writing fiction, you can offer a free short story or a free chapter of your book. If you’re writing nonfiction, you can write a short report or a short ebook and offer them for free.
5. Never giving out just one card. Giving out multiple cards can help spread the word about your book. If you give a business card to someone who’s interested in your book, there’s a good chance that she has friends that will be interested also. If you hand her five or six cards, the next time she’s talking to her friends, she can pull out your cards and pass them around.
6. Don’t purchase cards that look cheap. People believe that a cheap looking business card means a low quality book. Business cards are don’t put that big of a dent in your budget, so pay a little more and get glossy ones that people will pay attention to. Put a memorable picture or graphic on it that’s related to your book. Please don’t put your face on it!
These tips should help you use your business cards as a very effective book marketing tool. Carry them with you every where you go. Give them to everyone you meet including the waitress at the restaurant, the cab driver, and everyone at your office. Soon everyone will want to buy your book.
Author Resource:
Julie Coan has been a writer and educator for more than twenty years. Her book, “Write Your Way to a Million Dollars” is a unique step by step writing and marketing system. If you’ve always wanted to write, publish, and sell your novel, you must have this book. http://www.MakeMoneyWritingBooks.com