Do you have business cards for your books? I suppose if I was a prolific author with a multitude of books, I might just have a general author business card, but since I’ve only got one book, I’ve found it incredibly helpful to have a business card specifically for the book. In fact, in my previous post, How to Market While on Vacation, I shared one strategy for using business cards. Here’s a picture of what my cards look like:

Pajama School Business Card Front

Pajama School Business Card Back

I give these out frequently, and all of my family and several friends distribute them to interested persons. They serve as a great little bookmark, and convey just enough information to give people an idea of what the book is about without overloading them with a brochure full of information.

It seemed to make the most sense to use the cover of the book as the full design for the card since a key component of marketing is developing brand familiarity. I want to get the image of the book in front of people’s eyes as much as possible. Then, perhaps someday when they are browsing a bookshelf, they will see it, be drawn to it out of familiarity, and feel more inclined to buy it.

Since I’ve been out of town all month, I have just been doing little bits of marketing work here and there as I’ve been able. Honestly, it’s been a much-needed break. Marketing is such a challenge for me, but I’m still learning a lot and growing through the process. On my recent road trip, I visited a really neat used book store. After making my purchase, I paused on the way out to look at the bulletin board full of miscellaneous information adjacent to the door. As I stood perusing the varied literature, the thought suddenly came to me that this would be a perfect spot to stick a business card for my book. (Don’t laugh if this is so obvious that you’re appalled that I didn’t think of it sooner…)

After this, I started keeping a lookout for other such spots and ended up placing another card at a coffee shop where I ate lunch a couple days later. Not to worry, I don’t expect to be deluged with orders as random passersby happen to observe my card. (I think my “eternal optimism” has dropped several degrees through this whole marketing process!) Nevertheless, you never know when a well-placed business card will catch someone’s eye and prompt further curiosity and maybe, just maybe, even a book sale. 🙂

Anyone have any other ideas for how to use business cards or how to market while on vacation? After all, this seems like a great way to spread the word in markets that I wouldn’t normally go out of my way to reach. Plus, if I’m taking marketing trips like this and spending all this time putting up business cards, then I should be able to write the vacation business trip off as advertising expense on my taxes, right?!