What’s in a Sig?
Today I decided to change my sig line. For the last few months it had read, “Hire me to write your stuff! I’m swell.” It got nice comments from clients, but I became tired of seeing it. So my husband Eric and I spent longer than we should have today playing with ideas like:
- Writing since 1997. Walking upright since 1970.
- I write. You buy.
- Good writing, est. 1997.
- How many writers does it take to screw in a lightbulb? Five: One to get up on the ladder and screw in the bulb, and four to say, “I could have done it better.”
- Writing since 1997. Walking upright since 1970.
- I write words and paragraphs.
I finally settled on (for now) “Making editors smile since 1997.”
When I first started using the Internet as part of my freelancing career, my sig line listed the magazines my work appeared in that month. The problem was that I had to change my sig whenever I found out that I was in a new magazine. Also, I’m sure that no clients went racing to the newsstand every month to look up the latest work by Linda Formichelli; really, it impressed other writers more than potential clients. Then I went with the usual (boring) list of my books. When I started my 8-week e-course on getting published in magazines, I put that in my sig line instead.
I don’t remember what made me switch to a silly sig, but I like making people laugh, and I’m not afraid to take risks to do so — like the risk that a client will think I’m a freak and not work with me. If someone is highly offended by a stupid sig line, I’m not sure I’d want to work with that client anyway.
Although I do break a few rules when it comes to content, I pay attention to other rules of sig line netiquette, such as the McQuary limit, which states that sig lines should max out at four lines with fewer than 80 characters per line. Sig lines should also be plain text only — no HTML, no images. They’re generally delimited from the body of the message by two hyphens followed by a space and a return, so that the receiver’s software can automatically remove the sig line if the receiver chooses to do so.
Your sig line is a little sales pitch for you and your services; you want to entice the reader to click on the link to your site (and hire you and pay you gobs of cash). My silly sig has gotten nice comments from editors, and probably garnered more click-throughs than the one boasting of my many publication credits. You can also try a testimonial from a happy client, or some benefit of working with you, such as, “My writing will give you a whiter smile and fresh breath.”
What does your sig line say? Does it get a lot of response? Have you experimented with different styles, lengths, etc., and if so, what were the results? [lf]
Good question, Linda. I use Eudora, which lets you assign sigs to personalities. If I’m writing to a parent in my son’s school, they get an e-mail with my married name, home #, and no marketing info. My “editor” sig has my address, business line phone number, and website. And my “PR sig” simply has my web site and the number of my answering service.
I received an e-mail last week from someone whose signature line was over 15 lines long, very chunky with hyperlinks, one mentioned twice. It was noticeable — and not in a good way. Keep it simple, and put that info on your website!
This is very thought-provoking, Linda. Mine has my book, two professional writing associations and my blogs. Pretty boring stuff, and it hasn’t gotten me many comments. But you just inspired me to be more creative!
My business sig is four lines and simply lists my name, title (“Freelance Journalist”), E-mail, Web site, and phone/fax/cell numbers. I include phone, fax and cell numbers because some editors I’ve talked to have told me about problems with freelancers who disappear and are unreachable when deadlines come due. (In fact, I’ve done two assignments in the last three months occasioned by other freelancers flaking on promised pieces at the last minute.) Including every possible way I can think of to contact me is, I hope, a way to reassure editors that I won’t “go dark” when a deadline is approaching.
My personal sig, on the other hand, has a quotation from a recent podcast I heard involving David Allen (the GTD guy), where he said, “The problem is not information overload; if so, you’d walk into a library and explode.”
– Tammy
mine just says my name, book title, and URL, but now you’ve inspired me to try to make ‘em laugh too. curiously i’ve received a lot of compliments on my irreverent resume, even from clients at big staid megacorps. go figure. so maybe humor does work every time?
also, one of my great frustrations with outlook express (don’t ask me why i’m using it) is that i can’t create alternate sigs. at least i don’t think i can. i would like to have one for my corporate clients that does NOT say my book title (because it’s called THE ANTI 9-TO-5 GUIDE, which could be seen as a bit obnoxious by some of the humorless product managers i’ve had occasion to work with). and one that gives my book title and website, which i send to everyone else. guess it’s time to switch email programs.
fwiw, i really like the lightbulb sig. cracked me up!
Wow, that’s neat about Eudora. Maybe I should start using Eudora myself.
Michelle, I thought I made up that lightbulb joke, but when I searched the web for better jokes to put in my sig, I found that very joke on a board! I guess silly writers think alike.
I use Outlook Express almost exclusively. You can create more than one signature and switch between them.
Go to “Tools -> Options” and click the “Signatures” tab. After two check-off boxes, there is a box that lists any/all signatures you have created. To the right of that, there are 3 buttons. The first one is “New.”
I have found out, though, if you want your signature to have clickable links, you need to create an .html file to use for your signature instead of just typing it all in.
When you go to send an e-mail, if you have more than one signature, you just need to go to “Insert -> Signature” and select which signature you want to use.
Thank you, Jen! This is great to know!!!!
Well, I often sign off as The Wicked Witch of Publishing. However, a number of visitors to my blog have had the cheek to suggest I hit myself on the top of the head with my own broom! (And “hard,” one blogger suggested!)
Lynne AKA The Wicked Witch of Publishing
i have a basic sig.
i like your new tagline!
Mine’s a basic sig, too: Name, web address, blog address and phone. I like the idea of jazzing it up a bit.
Thanks for the idea!
I have the standard links and name, but I used to be more creative. Thinking you’ve inspired me to get back to that
Happy Holidays to you both!
I have a standard signature line (name, title, Web address, e-mail, and phone #), but you’ve inspired me to be a bit more creative, as well! (I also use Outlook and have multiple signatures for various purposes.)