Every time I think I’m doing something swell (writerly speaking), I forget about the ripples. You know what I mean about the ripples? Like when you drop a pebble in the water and the ripples expand outward, affecting the waters further and further away?
So I’ve been researching agents and editors for the Rutgers conference (and I have found SO many wonderful sites/blogs packed with great info! I’ll share those soon!) and I came across a blog post from a writer who’d attended in the past and she mentioned business cards. And I thought, thank goodness, I have plenty of business cards. Because I have THREE different–no, FOUR different business cards.
And then one of those ripples banged into me. Self, I said, you better check your business cards since you’ve made some changes lately. And uh-oh. Most of the cards had the Hall of Fame blog on it. A few had my old website. Which means I’ve been blithely handing out business cards for the past…let’s see, 9 months, with outdated information.
Oy. I suppose I don’t need to tell you that I was pretty annoyed with myself, grasshopper. I should make a checklist of “What To Do When Changing Your Web Presence” rather than what I do do, which is changing one thing, then catching up with the ripples as they inevitably bang into me. Don’t do that, grasshopper. Make your checklist, and put “Check/change business cards” on the top of the list. Then you can do a happy dance (like me!) when the NEW BUSINESS CARDS arrive from Vistaprint! And P.S. I also ordered a sheet of sticky business card labels that I could slap on a manuscript, which I thought was scathingly brilliant, not to mention ripple-evading.
(If I’m being perfectly honest, I love designing business cards. But you probably had an inkling of that when you read about the four business cards, piled in my desk drawer.)
Cathy C. Hall Writes 
I got fifty free cards from MOO, though a Klout freebie offer. (go to klout and see if you have offers.) And I guess because they were free, I didn’t take a lot of time to design them well. When they got here I was so mad at myself, because they are such beautiful business cards. Really high-quality. And…poorly designed by me.
But I’m going to design and order more. I’m constantly changing addresses (web and real life) so I think the answer for me is to only order fifty or so before each conference, instead of printing up 300 or more.
I just heard at a conference I was at that we no longer need to put snail mail addresses. No one uses snail mail anymore. If we have a cell phone number and an email address, that’s enough. And I wonder if even need to put our web addresses because how many people type in those. If I have a business card from someone I’m not going to type in http:// blah, blah, blah. I’m going to type in the person’s name and let the search engine pull them up.
What do you think?
I always put my email contact (and that hasn’t changed in all my business cards)–I’ve never put cell or home address. But I think it’s a good idea to put the place on the web that you keep current. Even if an agent/editor doesn’t check it, (and I agree that most people just put in a name and see what comes up)they see that you’re invested in the business of writing. (I don’t put the http part, just cathychall.wordpress.com). I use Vistaprint ’cause they almost always have deals–you can’t order 50 cards, though. Also, their pic quality is excellent. And I think you HAVE to have that pic. People remember a personality with a face, not necessarily a name.
Of course, once you’ve got a pubbed book, it’s a whole different business card. Fingers crossed, we’ll be printing more cards someday soon!
Better than handing them out with your home adress which I did forst time out 🙂
Hahahaha! Sorry, Linda, I can’t help laughing–but I know you laughed at yourself!
Well, some ripples are good… like the ones you’ll get from the sticky business card labels. Very cool! As for handing out old business cards, I just have to smile. As if getting an editor’s attention wasn’t hard enough… 🙂
You know, I never thought about the GOOD ripples. Thanks, Deb!
Love the sticky cards you can use as book plates! And hey, Cathy, didn’t you forget to take your business cards once last year? I seem to remember reading about that….you remembered Cathy on a Stick, but forgot your new cards?? Make a BIG note to be sure and pack them!! 😀
Oh, not to worry, Becky. This time, I’m making a List Of Things To Take To Rutgers! 😉
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