Consider how many emails you send out in a day. The signature on your email (that piece at the bottom that your email provider automatically attaches) is powerful landscape for promoting your work to people with whom you’re in contact. If just one such email connects with a potential reader, then you’ve won the day.

You set your signature in the Settings of your email program. Here are instructions for the two most common.

Outlook

  1. Click File, then Options, then Mail, then Signatures.
  2. Click the signature you want to edit, and make your changes in the Edit signature box.
  3. When you’re done, be sure to select Save and then OK.

Gmail

  1. Open Gmail.
  2. At the top right, click Settings (the cog icon) and then See All Settings.
  3. Scroll down to the “Signature” section and add your signature text in the box. (You can add images or format the text.)
  4. Very important: when you’re done, be sure to scroll all the way to the bottom of the page and click Save Changes.

Critical Information to Include

(in order of importance)

  1. link to your website or Facebook page (your primary public space)
  2. link to wherever your latest book is being sold
  3. links to your other social media accounts

Some Tips

See samples below.

  • Spell out your full professional name in your signature. If you use a pseudonym, put it here. You can use “Writing as [pseudonym]” if you sign your emails with your real name.
  • Put a line or other visual divider at the top of your signature to set it apart from the body of the email.
  • Many email providers let you create more than one signature to use in different situations.
    • For example, Gmail will let you set which signature it uses for a new email versus a Reply email. This lets you use the long signature for first-contacts, but the short one for further conversation.
    • Gmail then also lets you choose which sig you use when you write a new email (at the bottom of the email, click on the pen icon).
  • Don’t make your Reply signature too big.
  • You can add images, but don’t use images that are too big. Remember that it will slow down and clog up your receiver’s inbox.
    • I recommend no bigger than 200-pixels-wide for a cover image. (See the article entitled “Image Editing” for more depth on this.)
    • Set the dots per inch (dpi) to 72 pixels.

Sample Signatures

Short Signature:

Medium-Length:

Long:


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Categories: Promotion, Public

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