Writers Conference Advice #2: Business Cards!

This was the business card I used at Write to Publish. I censored the telephone and physical address for this blog, because the internet is a fickle place, my friends.

They may not seem important, but business cards are truly essential.

This is one piece of advice I nearly skipped over in my own preparations, but I'm glad I didn't. I accumulated maybe a dozen different business cards from contacts during my time at the conference, and handed out almost all the cards I printed. I often jotted down details about the person on the back of his or her card, which was helpful for later.

Not only will business cards help people remember you, but they look really professional if done correctly. I also really just enjoyed having a business card and getting to say, "Here's my card," in the most casual voice I could muster.

Some good elements for a card, in a proposed order of significance:

An email address. Because duh. Preferably not a silly one, like "superwriterman007@hotwriter.com." Or even one with a number like lukewildman01@gmail.com. The use of a number seems amateurish, to me. Something simple with your name in it is good, but I suppose that's all painfully obvious. Which leads me to question: why did I just write that? Why am I writing anything? Why am I HERE?

A picture. This is actually more important than anything else besides the email, in my opinion. When you just have a person's name, do you really think you'll remember them out of all the dozens of people you meet? But faces stick with us. If you want people to remember you even more, acquire some distinguishing characteristic, like a glass eye or a rugged scar on your left cheek, just slicing the edge of the lip! Kidding, of course. To clarify, I do not support corporal mortification or self-harm of any kind. Unless it involves having one's face removed by the kraken.

A website. This could be a blog or an actual website, if you're cool like that. I'm not. I gave this blog's address, which is actually one of the reasons I'm updating more regularly, heh . . . .

A phone number. Meh. This could be helpful. Might not be. Just depends on who you are, I guess.

A physical address. Again, it's really up to you, I think.

Well, those are my amateur suggestions. "You" generic probably knows a lot more about this than I do. But I really do insist on the picture: that's my story and I'm sticking to it! One of my stories, at least.

A last piece of advice: follow through afterwards. I know this also might seem obvious, but personally, my laziness often drives me into a lack of common sense. In 2013 when I was on a flight from Abuja to Frankfurt, having just graduated high school, my parents and I started chatting with another American expatriate who was returning to the states from a business trip. The man's son turned out to be a playwright in Chicago! He gave me his business card and told me he could hook me up with his son for an internship, but at the time I didn't realize the significance of what I'd just been handed! I failed to contact him for months, and then never heard back.

Suffice to say, after the Write to Publish conference, I wrote a quick note to each and every person from whom I received a card, just to establish contact. From the research I've done, it's a good idea!