Affordable Bookmarks for Authors: How I Found a Budget-Friendly Option
Weekend Writing Tips: Business
The writing community is one of the most generous spaces I’ve ever been a part of. 🤗 The more time I spend connecting with other authors and writers, the more convinced I am that sharing what we’ve learned — big or small — makes a difference. I definitely don’t have all the answers, but when I find something helpful, I love passing it along. Today’s post is all about one of my favorite budget-friendly author tools: bookmarks!
✋ Please Read Before Continuing:
I have no affiliation with, nor am I officially endorsing, any specific product, site, or app mentioned here. This post reflects my personal experience. Yours may vary, and you use any site or service at your own discretion and full responsibility.
Step 1: Start with a Free or Low-Cost Design
Before you even think about printing, you’ll need a bookmark design — front and back. Here are two free (or low-cost) design tools I personally recommend based on experience:
📌 Canva
Free version available: Yes
Pros: You can design both sides of your bookmark and download in popular formats like PNG, PDF, and JPG.
Note: I personally use Canva Pro (paid) because it offers additional fonts, images, and commercial-use graphics — which is especially handy for promotional items like bookmarks.
📌 BookBrush
Free version available: Yes
Pros: BookBrush has easy-to-use templates specifically for bookmarks, along with lots of other author promo tools.
Note: I haven’t used BookBrush as much myself, but two of my author besties swear by it! I plan to use it more in the future, especially for box set covers.
Step 2: Where to Print? (And Why I Don’t Use VistaPrint for Bookmarks)
You might wonder, why not just use VistaPrint’s bookmark tool? The short answer: price.
VistaPrint is excellent for other promo items like full-color business cards and vinyl banners. Their quality is fantastic!
But when it comes to bookmarks, unless there’s a massive sale, their prices just aren’t competitive.
(Example: 500 bookmarks at regular price were around $190 the last time I checked.)
Step 3: The Best Affordable Bookmark Printer I’ve Found: Bizay
After a lot of research, I settled on Bizay — and I’m so happy I did.
You can order as few as 100 bookmarks.
100 bookmarks at Bizay costs about the same as 5 at VistaPrint.
500 bookmarks (regular price) are around $25 — compared to VistaPrint’s $190.
They often run sales and discounts (sometimes 20% off your first order, or even deeper discounts during promotions).
Shipping is reasonable, and sometimes free with special offers.
Real talk: Right now, as I'm writing this, 500 bookmarks on sale at Bizay cost $15.80. 🤯 You could literally pay for a full year of Canva Pro with the money you save on bookmarks!
Final Thoughts
I’m not listing every possible option out there — just the one that worked for me after lots of research and hands-on experience. So far, I’ve ordered six different bookmark designs through Bizay, and I’ve been happy with all of them.
Bookmarks are a fantastic, budget-friendly promo tool, especially when you know where to get a good deal without sacrificing quality. 🎀
And remember — whether it’s bookmarks, business cards, or banners — always shop smart and trust your gut. What works for me might not be perfect for you, and that’s okay! We’re all figuring this out together. 💖
Until next times!
Lucy
With more than 12.5 million copies of her books sold worldwide, Lucy’s an award winning and USA Today bestselling author with 95+ published books. Her stories have been translated for sale all over the world and after a long career in traditional publishing, she’s gone indie. She loves the freedom to write the stories both her and her loyal readers enjoy the most. Her steamy mafia romance series, Syndicate Rules features the morally gray alpha heroes and spice she love to write. She also writes contemporary, historical and paranormal romance. Some of her books have action adventure and intrigue. All of them are steamy and deeply emotional. She’s a voracious reader and loves to talk about both her books and those she’s read (or should read…good recs are always welcome). Welcome to her world where love conquers all, but not easily!
For info on all of Lucy’s books, visit her website.
Find her on social media:
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goodreads: Lucy Monroe
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