Marketing Tips for the Financially-Challenged Indie Author: Bookmarks

An image of
butterflies I created
for the front of one
of my bookmarks.

Who doesn’t like bookmarks, and what avid reader doesn’t need at least one?  Well, perhaps in this day and age of ebooks, bookmarks are more of an embellishment than a necessity.  Yet, if you are like me (someone who reads 99.9% of their books on an ereader but still has quite a collection of traditional hardcover and paperback tomes lying around), then you might still find a good use for those fancy placeholders of old.

Not only can bookmarks help us save our spot, but they can be a very useful tool for the independent author.  Like the business cards I wrote about before, bookmarks offer the indie writer a relatively low-cost option for advertising their books.  In fact, the most challenging aspect of the bookmark process, in my opinion, is the designing of it.  But don’t fret, it isn’t as hard as it might seem (I’m just a bit of a perfectionist when it comes to creating anything artistic ;)).

Once again, I use my old friend Microsoft Word to help me with this dilemma.  Before you begin, however, I would recommend browsing different sites that offer a bookmark package and checking on the exact dimensions you’ll need before cutting and pasting images onto a document.  Once you have the page set to the right length and width (plus the bleed of course), you can begin.

Here is the back of the
bookmark for my third
book, The Awakening.

With a bookmark, you also have two sides that you can really utilize to help sell your book (you have much more room to work with than you do with the business cards).  On one side I personally like to put an image that will make the bookmark itself more appealing.  I guess you could regard it as ‘wasted space’, but, being an artist as well as an author, I consider it another plus, especially when I can tell people, ‘Yes, I designed the artwork as well.’

Of course, not everyone is a writer as well as an artist, but you might want to consider sacrificing that space (I feel people are more willing to take a bookmark if it isn’t entirely jam-packed with information).  Sometimes it’s good to appeal to the aesthetic side of people.  For example, if you aren’t an artist, maybe you can make the entire side of your bookmark the cover image of the book itself (or a section of the cover to give it a little intrigue).  Whatever you choose, be sure to test it out on friends and family to get their feedback before sealing the deal.

Now for the other side of the bookmark . . . This is where you get to practice and experiment with fonts and the wonderful world of telling your story with as few words as possible.  The back of my bookmarks consist of a small image of the cover, the title and my name (I also say which book in the series it is).  Then I add a tiny excerpt (I tried to find the most intriguing ones; hopefully yours will be better than mine), and finally I polish it all off with a mention of the purchasing info and my website.   When it is all complete and everything looks good, I save it as a PDF and upload it to the website of my choice.

Another image for the
front of the bookmark.
Notice how I make sure
the image's edges are
well within the edge
of the 'page'.

Of course, you may have a much different idea as to what information should be included on the back of your bookmark.  Positive reviews might be a good choice or maybe even an author bio.  Whatever you ultimately decide on in the end, just remember to be creative and try to stick to the relevant information regarding your books.  Good luck!

Marketing Tips for the Financially-Challenged Indie Author: Fliers

Here is the front of the flier for my first book,
The Finding.  I have included the cover image,
the title, a very short excerpt and a few reviews.

Fliers are one of the most basic forms of advertising, but let’s face it: they aren’t the most graciously accepted form of advertisement either.  If you’ve ever had the misfortune of standing in the middle of a busy crowd while trying to get people to take your leaflets, then you’ll know what I’m talking about.  And how often have we returned to our cars in a parking lot, only to scowl when we see neon pink or green papers pinned under our windshield wipers? 

Regardless of their general nuisance, fliers still give an author one more chance to get their name out there, and if these fliers are made with a little creativity in mind, then all the better.  And let’s face it, although we generally shun them, we do still read a flier if it is handed to us.  So, why not harness that potential and use these little sheets of paper to advertise our own books? 

I have used fliers before at book festivals and farmers’ markets.  I have yet to try them in other places (I haven’t yet got up the gumption to leave them under windshield wipers or post them on telephone poles).  For now I’d like to share with you the process (or at least the process I follow) of making fliers to help promote your own novel and yourself as an author.  It might be easier than you think, and it will save you more money if you can do it yourself (at least the designing portion). 

Fliers can be single or double-sided, full color or black and white, and large or small.  I prefer double-sided, full color (at least on one side) and of a smaller size.  Not only will smaller fliers save you money in the end, but they are easier to put in a pocket (I’d rather have someone take a flier from me and put it in their pocket, then throw it in the next garbage can they pass.  At least if the flier is in a pocket or a purse, it has a chance to be viewed once again later).

Here is a full page with four fliers on it.  I left the outline of some of the text boxes so you can get an idea of how I use them.  I kept the design the same as for my first book, but as you can see I changed the colors to match the book cover.

With that said, here’s how you begin: start out with a blank, 8 1/2” x 11” document with the margins set at 0” all around.  From there you can pick your page color (I went with black because it matches the theme of my book covers).  Once you have the page set up, draw in four text boxes of identical size (I made mine 5.2” x 3.9”, that way I have spare room on the sides).  If you split your page in this way, then you’ll have four fliers per page instead of one.  If you need more room for images, book excerpts, reviews or a short biography, then you can always split the page in half and only have two fliers per page (this all depends on your budget and how many fliers you wish to hand out).

After you have your text boxes set up, you can start adding images (your book cover, your own portrait, extra artwork from your book or series etc.).  Personally, I prefer a very colorful flier, but simple might be better for others, depending on the genre of the book.  Adding images is rather easy: simply copy and paste them into the text boxes (you might want to insert a smaller text box into the one that represents the border of your flier).  Once the image is inside the text box, you can re-size them to fit with everything else.

Here is the flier for The Finding split on one sheet of paper.  It may be hard to read, but you can see how I set up the excerpt on the with a review and my website, therefore leaving the front to display everything else.

After you have your images where you want them, you can add text (taking the same steps as before, inserting text boxes and placing them wherever you wish).  With these new text boxes you can add a book excerpt, a quick, one or two sentence describing your book, reviews from your readers, a short biography, your email and/or website and maybe even a book giveaway or author appearance. 

If you want to use the back of your fliers as well, set up the same template as the front (four boxes to match the dimensions on the front or two if you want more space).  I used most of the space on the back of my fliers for a book excerpt, adding my website and a quick review in the space that was left.  You might have to experiment with font sizes and types (some fonts are a lot smaller than others when set at the same size).  I do my best to use all available space in order to include as much information as possible.

Once everything is complete and you’ve checked for spelling errors and such, save your final draft (I save mine as a PDF, that way the fancier fonts don’t change on me), and take it to your local print and copy store and have copies run off.  Again, you can choose whether or not you want black and white or color copies, single or double sided (color and double sided copies will cost more, but that is why I went with the four mini fliers per page).  All you need after that is a paper cutter (I believe most stores that offer print services have them on hand) and soon you’ll have plenty of small, medium or large fliers to hand out the next time you find yourself amid a large crowd.

Marketing Tips for the Financially-Challenged Indie Author: Business Cards

Recently, I was invited to write a guest blog on Lindsay Buroker’s website, http://www.savvyselfpublishing.com/, focusing on the subject of creating the cover images for my books.  While formulating my post, I got to thinking about the other book-related projects I have created using the (mostly) basic programs on my laptop.

Where am I going with this exactly?  Well, I’d like to start a series of posts discussing the different manners of marketing I’ve used to help promote my books.  I’m not guaranteeing that these methods will work for you (and I’ll admit, they haven’t always panned out for me), but perhaps they will give you a way to promote your own books or inspire you to come up with your own ideas.

I’ll start with the simplest project and something all business people should have: business cards!  And yes, being an independent author is like owning a business, and cards are a quick and easy way to pass on your information to readers or retailers who might be interested in your work.

Many websites and local copy stores offer services with regards to creating your own business cards.  Personally, I use overnightprints.com and vistaprint.com for my business cards.  Using an online source allows me to create exactly what I want at a really good price.  An added bonus: they deliver the finished product right to my door.  So I would suggest doing a little homework and getting an idea of prices and such before you start.

Once you have chosen a company to print out your little works of art, you are ready to start designing.  If you are using Microsoft Word (I use Word 2007), then you begin by opening a new Word document and setting the page size to the dimensions to the size specified by the printing company (here is the link to the specification page if you are uploading your design on overnightprints.com: http://www.overnightprints.com/main.php?A=uploader&new=1&p=bc&s=none).  Make sure you have your margins set to 0” all around before you start.  I also draw in a basic text box and make it slightly smaller than the page.  This way I can make sure all my text and images are within these boundaries and won’t get cut off in the printing process.

This is my single-sided business card.  I left the outline of the 'safety box' so you can see how I used it to judge my usable space.

Next, you can start working on your design. I’ve created two business card designs in the past, the first being single-sided (pictured above), the second being double-sided (pictured below). I prefer the double sided design because that way you can take up an entire side with your cover image and use the reverse side for all your other information: where to buy the book, a short synopsis, your email and/or website . . . Of course this is up to you and it all depends on how much you wish to spend (double-sided business cards cost a little more). Just remember: a double-sided card means two separate files.  To add art and such, I always use text boxes. Why? Because they give me the freedom to move images around in my working space and to get text exactly where I want it.


Here is the front of my double-sided bookmark.  It is basically the cover image of my book.  Simple and to the point.



When everything looks nice and you are pleased with your creation, save your file as a Word document AND a PDF (it’s always good to have that Word document in case you decide to change things around later).  When your PDF is ready, you can go back to the website of your choice and upload your image.  If everything goes well, you should have some fine-looking business cards to pass on to potential readers.

And this is the back of the business card, where I listed a quick synopsis, the series website, my email address and where to purchase the books.  I also cut and pasted the image of the dragon's eye, faded the edges and centered it to add a little more flare