So Vistaprint recently ran a promotion where you could buy 250 business cards for $10, with free shipping. Score! I immediately broke out my mad graphic design skillz, chose a cool space template, and went nuts.
The result:
Ain’t it purdy? Of course, that’s just the online preview of what the card looks like. Since the cards are so cheap, I was worried that they would have flimsy paper or poor print quality. Not so!
The result:
That’s one of the printed cards. It looks yellow due to the appalling lighting, but in normal lighting it looks pretty much identical to the online preview. It’s shiny, the cardstock is decently thick, and it’s so pretty! Squeeeeee!
Now I just have to figure out what to do with them.
Here’s my question for you guys: do I start spreading the word of my upcoming book right now via business cards, or do I wait until the book is actually published?
Option #1: DO IT NOW!
Various experts claim that marketing for your book should begin 3-6 months before the book is released. That being said, I think it’s kind of silly to hand someone a card, say “Buy my book!”, and then when they ask where they can buy it, I say, “Well, it hasn’t actually been published yet, so just hang onto that card and check back in three months.”
I know if some unknown author pulled that on me, I would probably lose their card within the week. Not on purpose, obviously, but because I lose track of everything I possess, especially little pieces of paper advertising a book with an unknown release date.
Option #2: WAIT, YOU SILLY GIRL!
The other option, obviously, is to save my cards for when the book actually comes out. That way I can actually say “Buy my book today!” when I hand out cards. I think that would be pretty darn cool.
My polling mood is still going strong from yesterday, so here’s another poll:
Unrelated media of the day:
Michelle Proulx - Author 