With all the social media outlets bombarding us every day, it’s hard to narrow down the best place for writers to spend their social media time. Several writer friends suggested I take a look at the fast-growing Pinterest. My response was, “I don’t really get it.” As I began investigating this outlet, I learned a lot about Pinterest and how it can be helpful to writers in several ways.
The writers of food books or travel books already know this. Writers of nonfiction and fiction are still learning. Here’s how one writer described it: “Pinterest provides images to how I see the lands and characters in my books. It’s a way for readers to connect on another level with the story.”
I heard this same theme from other writers. One said he creates promos for his books that he puts on YouTube and then Pins. Another said, “I also blog and have recently discovered that 68% of sharing of my blog posts is through Pinterest.” That’s a huge number of sharing opportunities that we writers cannot ignore.
Like it or not,
As one writer said, “It’s the same with storeowners. You pin things that are amazing to you and, as your following grows, you pin your own wares as a part of what you find interesting. People spread it.”
Here are some tips from other writers:
- Create a storyboard for gathering together your pictures and ideas for your novel
- Write Flash Fiction and create boards around those stories.
- For mystery writers, post photos that give clues to your readers
- Some pins are photographs, others are drawings, and still others are word-based. Create different kinds of boards.
- Pin a nice photo with a quote from your text or WIP
- Go forth and create–the list is endless
or a look for a character or a perfect setting for a murder.
You can create a board for your character with what they love. Most of us do bios on our characters, including their favorite foods, activities, books. pets, and more. Imagine boards like that for your characters.
Have I excited you about Pinterest? Are you ready to take the plunge? Why not. And why not share some of your ideas?
Joan, Seeing this blog post, I guess I better learn Pinterest next. But how do you find the time for all this?
Hi Ken, Thanks for stopping by. I must admit I don’t spend as much time on Pinterest as I should. That’s my next goal. I have the icon in my address bar and I pin all my blog posts and reviews. That takes no time. But, I need to add some boards–The creation of character boards is my next endeavor. Just like anything else, take it one step at a time. Many people are saying that Pinterest is a much better platform than Facebook for writers–particularly those of you aiming at the young adult market.
I love Pinterest. At first I started to have a scrapbook for myself of things that I loved. It was relaxing. Then I started using Pinterest for marketing. I do have a storyboard, actually a couple for my mystery, The Ginseng Conspiracy and will have another for Murder Under the Tree, which is coming out this fall.
My pinterest address is: http://www.pinterest.com/skbernha/ .
Susan
Hi Susan, Thanks for your comment. You seem to be two steps ahead of most of us! I’ll follow your boards. Here’s my link:
http://www.pinterest.com/giovannajoan/
Thanks for this, Joan! I use Pinterest for fun and also have my cover on it. About to place my second cover, but having a board for my character’s interests is a great idea!! Lots of good ideas in this post.
Hi Barbara, What’s your Pinterest link? I’d love to look at your boards. And, good for you for using Pinterest so much!
Wow! What a great idea! I love it!
Hi Sheri,
I’m glad you got some ideas from this post. We must remember the possibilities are endless. Many authors are have a great time being creative on these new outlets. Let us know when you try something!