Boost Your Book Sales with Print Marketing: The Ultimate Guide for Authors

You’ve got a signing coming up, or a box of books to ship, and now you need something to put in people’s hands.

For most authors, bookmarks and postcards are the print marketing worth doing first. Add business cards for contacts, bookplates for signed copies, and a poster if a bookstore will actually hang it.

Put your cover on every piece, with one line about the book and a QR code that takes readers to it.

Author print marketing: what’s actually worth printing

Print stuff works when you have somewhere to USE it. A signing, a convention, a school visit, a bookstore that has agreed to display it. Inside the books you ship to readers. Start with that actual use, then figure out what to order.

A box of promotional materials in your closet isn’t marketing.

It’s easy to get carried away because all this stuff makes you feel like a real author; you can spend days picking paper and designing matching stationery (which is pretty fun, and considerably easier than convincing strangers to read your book), without figuring out who you’re going to give it to.

Your cover goes on everything, so fix that first. If it looks like crap, printing it on more things just makes the problem more expensive. The cover needs to attract readers who like your genre before they bother reading the small text. My book cover design rules explain what it needs to communicate.

Order for the readers you can actually reach. You can always print more.

Author bookmarks

Bookmarks make sense because you’re giving them to people who read books. They have a use after the conversation ends, which gives your cover another chance to be seen.

But a bookmark is a pretty narrow space. Don’t try to fit your whole publishing career on it.

Promotional bookmarks for authors need the cover, a one-line hook, where to buy the book, and a QR code. Make the title and author name readable. If there’s room on the back, you can add a little more about the story, but your full author bio probably isn’t the thing that will sell it.

Say you write cozy mysteries. A line about a baker finding a body tells the right reader more than a paragraph about how you’ve always loved writing. Give them something they want to read.

You can design it in my free online cover editor using the 2×6 bookmark preset. Bring in your cover, use fonts and colors that belong with it, and leave enough empty space that the text doesn’t feel crammed in.

Moo, Vistaprint and Printful are printing options. Check the printer’s required dimensions before finishing the design, and keep important text away from the cut edges.

Postcards and business cards

Postcards give you more room for the book image and a useful amount of text. Use them as mailers for a new release or event, handouts at signings, or inserts inside books you’re shipping.

The front can do most of the attracting. Put the cover somewhere obvious, then use the back for the hook and buying information. If it’s an event postcard, the date and location need to be easy to find (people shouldn’t have to study your beautiful artwork to figure out where to go).

PrintPlace, PsPrint and Moo are options for postcards. If you’re mailing them, leave space for the address rather than designing every inch and discovering that problem later.

Business cards are useful when somebody wants to contact you. A store manager, an event organizer, another author. They’re less useful if you expect your name and email address to persuade a stranger to buy a novel.

Include your cover, name, website and email, with a short line about what you write. Add the QR code to your book page. Vistaprint, Moo and Staples print business cards; keep the design simple enough that everything is readable at the actual size.

Bookplates, posters and flyers

Bookplates are stickers you sign for readers to put inside their books. They’re useful when somebody bought online and wants a signed copy without mailing the whole book back and forth.

Use a small cover image or matching design, your name, and plenty of space for the signature. Don’t fill that space with dark artwork and then try to sign over it. Zazzle and UPrinting are options for custom bookplates.

Posters need a place to go before you order them.

If you manage a bookstore and need ad posters for an author signing, Canva works for the design. Start with the book cover, then add the author name, event date, time and store location. A short hook can help, but the event details need to be visible from farther away than your laptop screen.

Ask the store about the display size and where it will hang. A window poster and a small sign beside the books don’t need the same layout. PrintRunner and UPrinting print posters.

Flyers are for getting the event information into people’s hands. Use the cover and the same basic details, plus a QR code to the book or event information. Staples, UPrinting and PrintRunner are printing options. Check with local businesses before leaving a stack.

Stickers and character art cards

Stickers can be fun, cheap extras for orders or event giveaways. Your cover is one option, or use a quote or character image readers would actually want to stick on something.

There is a difference between a reader wanting your sticker and you wanting a reader to advertise for you.

For a tiny sticker, simplify. Don’t shrink a paragraph until it technically fits. StickerYou and Sticker Mule are options for custom printing.

Character art cards make more sense for fantasy and sci-fi readers, especially people who already care about the characters. Put the illustration on the front and a brief description on the back, with the book cover and link so the card still leads somewhere.

PrintPlace and MOO can print custom cards. Keep the descriptions short and avoid spoilers. Somebody picking up a pretty card hasn’t necessarily read the book yet.

Book marketing materials you can make for free

You don’t need to pay a designer to turn your finished cover into a bookmark. I built my free online cover editor so authors could make their own designs. It has preset sizes for 2×6 bookmarks, 5×7 postcards and business cards, plus layers, fonts and effects.

If you need a book image for a postcard or poster, my free 3D book mockup tool turns your flat cover into a 3D book image. Download a transparent PNG to place it on your design, or a JPG. Canva works too if that’s what you’re comfortable using.

For a book marketing template, start with your cover’s fonts and colors. Keep those consistent as you change the size and move things around. You don’t need a completely new visual identity for each piece of paper.

Use one QR code leading to a universal book link, where readers can choose where to buy. Print a readable address beside it too.

Before ordering, print a sample at actual size. Read the small text, check the event details, and scan the QR code from the paper with your phone.