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Status: Drafting the fourth book in the PERILOUS series!

Monday, March 29, 2010

Your Business Cards

I took the big jump a few weeks ago and ordered business cards. But first I wondered, what do I put on a business card? I mean, it's not a business, per say. (Per se?) No physical location. I'm not going to give my phone number out (note: there may be times when you want your phone number on there. I don't right now).

So I googled a few author business cards, of course. And here's what I came up with.

Things to include on your card:

1) Your name. Duh, right? Put your pen name, your author name, what you want people to recognize.

2) Your title. For me, I put "young adult author." If I ever branch out and publish in more than one genre, I'll either just put "author" or list all of the genres I write in.

3) Book title. This was easy for me because I only have one book contracted. If you've published several, you might want to list just the most recent ones, or your best sellers, or sets of series.

4) Your blog/website. You want people to be able to find you! I listed both my blog and website, though I included the disclaimer that the website isn't ready yet.

5) Your email. Include this if you want to be contacted. I'm not famous enough (yet) to be bombarded with spammers or hate mail. For now, I can pretty safely assume anyone who contacts me wants to know more about my book. Or loves me. :)

6) Your photo. If this were a business, you'd include a logo, and a snazzy one at that. So this is you. Your book. You want an author picture. Names are easy to forget, but pictures, not so much. You want people to remember you.

7) optional: your agent/publisher. Again, I only have one book out, so I listed my publisher and my release date.

8) optional: leave the back blank. Since I didn't include my phone number because I don't want to give it to everyone, I can put it here if I give the card to someone I want to have it. Or I can autograph it. Leave information about my next book signing. Whatever.

Some of these things are subject to change. So I wouldn't invest in a billion business cards at once. Buy a few hundred, give those away, and when it's time to reorder, make sure all of your information is correct.

And finally, an example:


Have you put anything different on your cards? Any other suggestions?

P.S. My sweet tooth is out of control. Making blueberry coffee cake for dinner. Yes, dinner.

24 comments:

Mary Gray said...

OH! Yours is awesome!!

Tamara Hart Heiner said...

did you get yours yet? I keep waiting for a picture!

Jannie said...

Tamara! It looks AWESOME! I love everything about it!! So glad you chose that picture - it's perfect and I love the colors/design - it all looks great :)

Tyler Jorgenson said...

Nice card Tamara. I like the simple but elegant design. A couple thoughts on making it look even more professional - I wouldn't have the disclaimer on the card about the coming website. For now just point the domain name to your blog and only give out the non-blogspot site. Also, create an email like - author@tamarahartheiner.com so that you don't keep using the @byu.net email.

nephite blood spartan heart said...

WE have the same one!~ Except mine says Tamara Heart Heiner.

Naw but we used the same company. i'll have to post mine soon too.

Tamara Hart Heiner said...

you're funny, David! You can promote me if you want. :)

Thanks, Jannie! (P.S. is your blog back yet?)

Good suggestions, Tyler! For now, I'm not willing to pay money to develop a personal email address yet. Maybe after my book comes out and I'm making money. And I want people to know I have a website. It's coming.

Arlee Bird said...

Last week you said that the back of yours is blank which I really like the best. The front of your card looks really, really good to me. It has the important information presented clearly and tastefully without being distracting. I agree with you about just getting smaller quantities and as you need them. I've thrown out so many cards in the past because I had too many made and had to make changes.

By the way:
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Lee

Jannie said...

Hi Tamara :) Still excited about the business cards :) My website is still going strong..I don't know why you are not able to access it. Are you going to:

www.andrewandjannie.blogspot.com

Tamara Hart Heiner said...

Hey Jannie!

I was going to your profile and accessing it from there. That's what I used to do, b/c I didn't always remember the website. I'll have to bookmark it or something, b/c it worked when I put in the web address.

Arlee--You're right, I forgot to mention that! I did leave it blank on the back. I'll edit the post to include that.

Unknown said...

Thank you for visiting my blog and following!!! I am happy to be your 100th follower! Woohoo Happy 100!

Love the business cards, I'm not published yet but when the time comes I'll know google can help :)

I don't know how I started to have so many followers, but I love meeting new peeps to follow!!! So thanks for stopping by!

Tamara Hart Heiner said...

Hi Jen! Now I'll have to have a contest too! :) Thanks for coming over. I was way impressed by your numbers. I'm going to ride to fame on your curtails. :)

sarahjayne smythe said...

Wow. That card is beautiful. And congrats on your 100th follower. I'm still trying to figure out how to celebrate mine. :)

Stephanie Faris said...

Wow. They're beautiful!!! And I love your author picture. Very professional and flattering.

Tamara Hart Heiner said...

Go Vistaprint! They did a good job!

Sarahjayne, I'm probably going to steal some of Jen's ideas. Gift cards. :)

Thanks, Stephanie!

Anonymous said...

Oh, nice biz card, good lady. I think I'll take that step when I've finally finished a novel and have something to shop around. Or perhaps before my first writers' conference in May.

Good for you for taking the leap!

(And it's "per se")

:)

Tamara Hart Heiner said...

Thanks, Simon! I wasn't sure! (I wrote per se, but the computer underlined the 'se', and I doubted myself.) And yes, I would definitely get those cards before the writer's conference.

Anastasia V. Pergakis said...

Beautiful! I have been thinking about business cards as well and now I know where to start! I was thinking to make a few different styles but with the same information really. I have a few different novels so I thought maybe a few different designs based on the books (this is good depending on the person I am giving the card to. If they like fantasy, I give them one of those cards, but I'll choose a different one if they prefer sci-fi etc).

Thanks for sharing the information! I think I'll go get started on mine right now!

Jody Hedlund said...

Looks very cool! I need to get cards made--but I think I'm going to have my web designers make them to match my site. Thanks for sharing what you put on yours!

Mary Gray said...

Mine aren't nearly as cool as yours! I need to get my hair done and the girl who was gonna take my pic moved away!! So mine don't have a pic...I couldn't convince myself they'd be improved with one. ;) But yours should be the standard for us all!!

Tamara Hart Heiner said...

that's a great idea, Harley! I didn't think of that. different cards for different books. Wow, I really like that! I'll keep that in mind for the future.

Jody--I think I'll do that someday too. I'm going to try and build my own website, but if I'm unsuccessful, I know a lady who can build me one (for a fee). She also can get matching business cards for a really good price. But they come in bulk--like 1000!

Mary--the picture's not a necessity. I was lucky I had my author pic taken. You could always put the book cover instead (when you have it)!

Iva Messy said...

WOW!!! these are great!!!!

Talli Roland said...

Love it! Very cool. Did you use VistaPrint? I'm SO in love with VistaPrint...

Love your author photo!

Tamara Hart Heiner said...

Thanks, Iva!

Tamara Hart Heiner said...

Talli--yeah, I used vistaprint. I was so pleased! They don't always have the best cards, but this one was perfect for me.

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