Conferences

I'd bring it but don't bring a ton of copies to hand out or anything. Agents already have too much to think about, carry etc. They don't want you handing them a book. Showing them your published book, I dunno, I doubt that is a big deal.

p.s. I am no expert!

I might bring a copy just in case someone expressed an interest. I definitely would bring business cards and hone my pitch for the new ms rather than prepping to talk about a recently published work that won't have any significant sales figures by the conference date. But, that's just my 2 cents.

You'd be better off printing up business cards or post cards with the book's cover on them, than trying to hand agents an already published book. It really is of no interest to them - they can't sell an alredy published book with no proven sales yet.

What they might be interested in is something new - focus on the new book.

So, maybe have one or two copies, and if you can make up postcards or bookmarks or business cards with its cover great, but any agents you come in contact with are going to want to hear about books they could possibly sell, not one they can't And if you spend your time talking about your published book, you could miss an opportunity to interest them on your unpublished book(s).

At least, that's my take as a conference veteran.

~suki

Bookmarks are pretty usual, but I'm a fan of doing a business card because it serves double duty. On one side, a pic of the book cover, on the other, your professional contact info. It's what I tend to do, and people respond positively to it. I always feel bookmarks are more promotional in nature, more "here buy my book" less, "here this is who I am, and oh yeah, that's my book".

My two cents.

(if you do do business cards, Vista print is awesome)

FictionChick said:

You guys are terrific. Thank you!

suki - would bookmarks or postcards put them off on account of size? Should I stick with regular business cards?

I'm not really interested in talking about my published book so much as giving people an idea of what I've written / will write. So I definitely will be talking more about my current MS.

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Once you get down to postmark versus bookmark versus business card I'm not sure it matters. I will say that industry folks will likely see a book mark or post card as promotional of the book on it - and may be less inclined to take it/hang onto it - while they will likely see a business card as exactly that - promotional of you.

Regardless, don't be put off if agents you meet don't even want a business card. For many, their whole interacting with people is online/email these days.

But if you had to choose the three options, and your objective is to promote you, not specifically the published book, then go with a business card with the book's cover on it.

That's my 2 cents.

But be ready for the attitude that the best example of what you do/will write will be what you are picthing, not what you have previously published (unless that previous publication was through a respected trade publisher or has mad sales figures). When it comes down to interacting with prospective agents, they really will focus on what you are currently pitching or have to pitch, not a project they can't sell. At least, that's my take on it.

~suki

The conference may have a bookstore where published authors attending the conference can do a signing and sell copies of their books. Check into it.

Otherwise I'd stick to a standard business card. I, personally, wouldn't even put a cover picture of my book on it, but I would list the title and publication info (publisher, year).

Here's an example of what I did for my business cards - not sure if it helps or not, but here you go:

Edit: Okay, I am having serious trouble posting these so that they aren't huge. Here are the links instead

Front Side: http://i168.photobucket.com/albums/u179/adriennekress/timothybus.jpg


Back Side: http://i168.photobucket.com/albums/u179/adriennekress/backtimothycard2.jpg


(and in case anyone is worried about my sharing my email, that's my public email, available on my blog etc, so no need to be concerned )

Yup! Went through vista. They are very well priced and reliable. Though the uploading can be a bit finicky.

Toothpaste said:

Yup! Went through vista. They are very well priced and reliable. Though the uploading can be a bit finicky.

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Be VERY CAREFUL with vista. I ordered cards from them and didn't realize I clicked on an offer to sign up for something that billed my card every month for some service I never wanted. It ended up being 7 charges of 9.95 in one month. I had the charges deleted. I am usually so careful and never get caught up in scams. This was years ago, so maybe they aren't doing it, but be careful anyway.

Well, they aren't a scam, but they do give you tons of offers, and you have to be careful which button you click on. Always triple check your order before clicking that last button. One thing you should be aware of is in that final ordering step there will be two listed orders on the page. The top one will be the one you wanted, the bottom one will be the one you wanted plus address labels for an extra I think 6 bucks or something. So you want to be extra careful when you are scrolling down to click "pay" or whatever the thing is called, that you don't scroll to the bottom of the page, but rather to the bottom of that top order.

Okay, it sounds complicated, but it isn't really. Just make sure you read everything very closely. No skimming .

Toothpaste said:

Here's an example of what I did for my business cards - not sure if it helps or not, but here you go:

Edit: Okay, I am having serious trouble posting these so that they aren't huge. Here are the links instead

Front Side: http://i168.photobucket.com/albums/u179/adriennekress/timothybus.jpg


Back Side: http://i168.photobucket.com/albums/u179/adriennekress/backtimothycard2.jpg


(and in case anyone is worried about my sharing my email, that's my public email, available on my blog etc, so no need to be concerned )

Click to expand...

love this!

Toothpaste said:

Well, they aren't a scam, but they do give you tons of offers, and you have to be careful which button you click on. Always triple check your order before clicking that last button. One thing you should be aware of is in that final ordering step there will be two listed orders on the page. The top one will be the one you wanted, the bottom one will be the one you wanted plus address labels for an extra I think 6 bucks or something. So you want to be extra careful when you are scrolling down to click "pay" or whatever the thing is called, that you don't scroll to the bottom of the page, but rather to the bottom of that top order.

Okay, it sounds complicated, but it isn't really. Just make sure you read everything very closely. No skimming .

Click to expand...

Same here. I've ordered from Vista several times, and each time the extra offers pop up, I automatically find the "NO, ALREADY!" button.

BenPanced said:

Same here. I've ordered from Vista several times, and each time the extra offers pop up, I automatically find the "NO, ALREADY!" button.

Click to expand...

Yeah this happened to me a while ago---over 5 years ago, back before internet companies got the idea to have customers opt out of receive. I'm super careful now and I would order from them again after triple checking everything.