Including your author email and a few select social media profiles gives the people you meet even more ways to find and follow you, and increases the odds that you’ll turn them from “mildly interested” into “new fan”! If you plan to give away your business card at networking events, writers’ conferences, and other places where you want to make sure people can get in touch with you directly, instead of just finding out where they can buy your book, add a little more information to your card. Bestselling author of sweet cowboy romances.Make it easy for people to understand exactly what you focus on in your writing. Think of this part as a tagline for your author career, much like a tagline for your book. The BasicsĪt a minimum, your business card has to include your name (or pen name), your author website URL, and a basic description of what you write. It’s worth having a handful on you at all times!Īn author business card can be as simple or as fancy as you want it to be-it’s all up to how you want to present yourself. They’re inexpensive, portable, and can cram a lot of information into a teeny space. Keeping a stash of business cards on hand might seem old-school, but it solves the issue of making sure that the person you were chatting to in line has a way to find your book even after you both move on. Phone to phone transfers are fine for swapping info with your new jogging buddy, but to promote your books?
That’s why business cards still matter in the digital era.Īlthough we all tote tiny computers in our pockets all day, it’s still a pain in the butt to exchange contact information on a phone-not everyone uses the same system, vCards work with contact and email programs but aren’t universal, and NFC transfers are kind of clunky.īesides, after you dump your information into someone else’s phone, they’re not likely to ever look at it again. Your next reader could be anyone, anywhere. You might end up discussing your book at the DMV. You might get chatting with someone at the bowling alley. It might be someone who finds your book on Goodreads, but it might also be the person in front of you at the grocery store or the guy you bump into when you’re out for pizza. You never know where your next fan will come from.
The third rule for being a successful author is to always be networking. The second rule for being a successful author is to write more. The first rule for being a successful author is to write.