Friday, October 17, 2008

Signature Lines

I just joined a new authors' promotion group which I found through Shelly Munro's blog. At the moment the group is discussing guest blog spots (I'll post about that tomorrow) and signature lines. I almost always use a signature line except with my friends. It seems too pretentious. Even at the day job, I erase all the "manager" crap even though it comes up automatically when I pull up a new email, when I email my friends or my department. I only keep it when emailing other departments, mainly because our organization is getting to the point that managers only accept emails from other managers and directors only from other directors. My staff's not supposed to email other departments but funnel questions through me. Sometimes it's a pain but it's usually a help. Anyway, I'm more concerned with signatures for my other career, my writing career. On many loops, promotion is a no no, but signature lines are allowed. I'm shy of saying too much so I usually don't say too much on mine, but sometimes, when I have a new book to promote or when I'm trying to overcome my shyness, I'll get a bold moment and build up my email signature. At the moment, my main signature looks like:

"Ashley http://www.ashleyladd.com http://www.ashleyladd.blogspot.com http://www.myspace.com/ashleyladdromancewriter http://twitter.com/ashleyladd Heart and Soul - an MMF with a lot of heart newly released at http://www.total-e-bound.com"
I didn't add a quote about my book, "Heart and Soul" as it already seems so long. I have been advised to do so in the past. Should I now? Should I delete some of my links? I've seen some sig lines that are way longer than the one I have above. At times I've advertised my contests in my sig line (it worked pretty well). I've also had several different signature lines, one each for my different books. I have between 20 and 30 books still in publication so I'm not going to to make one for each - in fact, my aol email signature picker only gives me five automatic signatures, not that I couldn't save them in Word and just cut and paste. But I figure the rule of advertising is that a consumer has to see a name or product at least 7 times before it sinks in. If they keep seeing a different book, it might not sink in. I hope that if they visit my publisher or one of my websites, they'll see my other books available for sale and then check them out if interested. I haven't put covers in mine, mainly because I don't know how. So, what are your thoughts about signature lines? If you're a published author, do you think they help? (I'm sure they can't hurt at the very least.) If you're a reader, do you ever check out a book or an author's website because of a signature line? I know personally, that as a reader, I have visited some author's websites because of their signature line. I also visit new blogs when their blog links are given. I often send a friend request on My Space or start following someone on Twitter if given a link? What about you? You'll also want to see what Amarinda Jones, Anika Hamilton, Anny Cook, Barbara Huffert, Brynn Paulin, Bronwyn Green, Dakota Rebel, Kelly Kirch, Molly Daniels, Sandra Cox, Regina Carlysle, and Cindy Spencer Pape are up to, so make sure to visit them also. :)

3 comments:

Cindy Spencer Pape said...

I like 'em short. I have my tag line, my dragon, and my website. But I never remember to remove when emailing friends and family, so they get the same thing. Fortunately, they put up with me.

Unknown said...

I see no problems with your signature line. You're in business. Use what you've got to succeed.

johnsmith said...

Success with Signature Lines: Your Virtual Business Card! Just think about it: You're at your desk, Emailing away, back and forth, all day long. If you ever had the time, or the inclination, to count all of those Email messages, not to mention your responses to them, it would probably number well into the hundreds, if not more! Think of all the opportunities you have for telling people about your eBook.
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johnsmith

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