For
at least the past dozen or so years, my wife and I have been sending out a
holiday card to friends and family. It’s
the kind you make online, with a photo or several on the front and back, postcard
style. Many people, especially those
with young kids, do them. I realized the
process that goes into making that card is a labor of love, similar to how
authors go about marketing their books.
In
fact, the exercise of having to come up with a catchy headline, the right
theme, a good visual, and just enough copy to say something but not too much is
like an author having to design an ad or a press release.
It’s
rewarding to see a finished product that looks great and brings a chuckle of
laughter. The goal I get is that the
card needs to be timely and comment on something that’s both in the news and in
our own lives. We’ve done ones that
commented on technology, Trump, and the Great Recession.
It’s
an art to combine the external world with an inner one. This year we featured our newest pet, Jackson
the American bulldog, an 80+ pound beast, and our two children, 10 and 13. In regerence to Amazon, which
was recently in the news for locating a major office in New York City, the
caption says: “Even in a Prime Moment, Some Things Just Can’t Be Returned.”
Last
year, for the first time since we started sending them out, we didn’t do
one. We’d lost our English bulldog of
seven years, Daisy, a few months prior to the holidays. We just didn’t have the spirit to press
forward.
Authors
need to master the art of the holiday card if they are to succeed at book
marketing. Just think of the card as
your press release. You have a small
amount of real estate to work with. You
have but a few seconds to make an impression on others. The look, feel, and
content of your pitch – or holiday card – is what will make someone say; “That’s
interesting – I need to know more.”
It
all comes down to using just a few key phrases, a stunning image, and a timely
message. That’s what you have in your
tool box. How will you get people’s
attention – Shock? Humor? Declaration?
Question? News?
Many
holiday cards that we receive from others don’t seem as memorable or as catchy
as ours. They state the obvious and put
in the requisite pose. The background
colors and design are ordinary. But our
card sticks out – it has attitude.
That’s what you want – showcase your attitude.
Happy
Holidays!
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