Pimping your book with business cards – does it work?

For me, I don’t know. I just started down this road. When I first started this self-publishing adventure, I needed a proofreader or copy editor. Someone who could review my work and let me know how terrible a writer I was.

I’m a big fan of using local talent for work – keeps the money in the community. I looked on line and in the papers but there was no one.  One day, I was picking up donuts from the local pastry shop. By the cash register, there was a huge bulletin board full of business cards. I started going scanning them for anyone in the editing field.

I found one.

I took two cards from the board. One card was the editor who was out of business. The second card, was hand written, and contained the name of book, the author, and a website. I went home and looked it all up on the web. The book wasn’t anything I was interested in, but nonetheless, the author got me to look for it.

In that case, business cards work.

In a few weeks, I’m going to be using the Amazon KDP Select program to offer my book free for digital download. Now, telling someone they could download if for free – is great. However, if they are like me, they will forget the name of the book, what genre is it, what days it available. A business card solves those dilemmas.

For me, I’m not planning to pass out cards to random people. I’m going to try to use them, as miniature sign of advertisement were high foot traffic is available – like the donut shop. Every time I got into an establishment that has a business card bulletin board, I take a mental note of where my eyes take me.

These few items got my attention.

*Color – bright colors or artwork. I was drawn to these cards instead of the bland white ones.

* Large readable fonts – I have usually less than a minute to scan the board, pay for my stuff, and head out. If I can’t make out what a business card is trying to say from one or two feet – then I skim over it.

*Location – The ones right next to the cash register are the ones I usually focus one. Anywhere between 5-6 feet high (near eye level) is the best. The ones at the top of the board or the bottom of the board just are over looked.

*Last but not least – ease of taking a card. I typically will not un-pin a single card. However, if there are five or six – sure – I’ll take one.

I spent some time with InDesign to create a business card that will hopefully – catch the attention of a patron.

Here’s the front:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Now, it doesn’t have a lot of information on it. But hopefully, it’s enough to spark a little bit of interest to grab the card and check it out the back.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Wish me luck!

Thanks,

Leo