Book marketing tip: Use your email signature

If you’re an author, do you include a signature at the end of your personal emails? If not, you should! Adding a signature is a fantastic way to promote your book. A few posts back, I talked about the importance of coming up with a compelling hook, and your email signature is great example of how to put that hook into action.

The signature doesn’t have to be anything fancy. Here’s the one I use (the spacing might be a bit off here):

Maria Murnane, best-selling author of Perfect on Paper, It’s a Waverly Life, and Honey on Your Mind, novels for anyone who has ever run into an ex looking like crap www.mariamurnane.com

Most email signatures can be added under the “settings” in your email service. If you don’t have an author website (put that on your to-do list now!), you can hyperlink “click here for more information” to your book’s sales listings, social media accounts, or Amazon.com author page. Hyperlinks are usually added by clicking on the icon that looks like a chain.

Many people in my personal life don’t know I’m an author until they see an email from me about something completely unrelated. For example, I play a lot of soccer, so I’m always on group emails for tournaments, teams, pick-up games, league parties, etc. I’ve lost track of how many times I’ve received an email from someone on a group email saying something along the lines of, “Wow, I had no idea you were a published author. I just ordered a copy of your book!” One woman who recently saw my signature is the head soccer coach at a university, and she wants me to come speak to all the female athletes there about what it’s like to be a professional writer. What a great opportunity that happened solely because of my email signature.

Now get e-signing!

Palo Alto native Maria Murnane is the best-selling author of the romantic comedies Perfect on Paper, It's a Waverly Life, and Honey on Your Mind. She also provides consulting services on book publishing and marketing. Learn more at www.mariamurnane.com.

This blog post originally appeared on CreateSpace.com. Reprinted with permission. © 2012 CreateSpace, a DBA of On-Demand Publishing, LLC. All rights reserved.