Business Cards

As I'm always looking for new ideas of how to brand myself and best sell my books I belong to a few marketing groups. One of them is discussing business cards today. A new writer asked what should be printed on them? Author name? Email address? Address? Phone number? Web site url? Books? Anything else? To date, I have one card with all of the above except address and a pic of my books. After reading the replies, however, I see I should have two different sets of business cards made. The first business card design should be for readers. It should contain: Author name Web site url Blog url Email address Perhaps a book cover on the back The second business card design will be the one to give to industry professionals such as publishers, editors, and agents. This one will contain personal contact information. It will have: Author name Real name Email Address PO Box Address (this is safest to use - rent a PO Box if you don't already have one) Web site url OR... Another suggestion is to hand out bookmarks to readers instead of business cards and only give out business cards to industry professionals. It's an idea. After all, a couple book covers and blurbs would fit on the bookmarks as they're much larger than a teensy little card. Business cards don't have to be expensive. Vista Print is very inexpensive, does a nice job, and many authors use them. Of course, you can also order them from a business supply store or google another print shop online. I keep my business cards in my purse. You never know when you might want to pass one out. I'm pretty shy about advertising my writing in person (bad, I know) so I'm one that doesn't normally initiate conversations about my books. However, I do a lot of my writing in public (at Borders, Barnes & Nobles, the library, and my kids' sporting events) so a lot of people ask me what I'm writing, or they'll ask me what my Alpha smart is (most people are fascinated by the Alpha smart). This gives me a reason to give them my business card and invite them to my website and blog as I admit I'm a romance writer and published author. However, it's not a safe idea to give strangers and acquaintances our home address and phone number. There's not only our physical safety to consider but identity theft. My credit card's been compromised twice in the past two years. My donors at the day job often report that their credit cards have been compromised, too. It's a sad fact, but since it's happening, we have to be cautious. 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. :)