Saturday, April 28, 2012

Marketing via Pinterest

So many people are on Pinterest. I'm not one of them. I've got so much going on each day, I (and my family) celebrate if I eek out time to shower. I'm not on it, but I do know about it and have been to some writers' Pinterest pages or bulletin boards or whatever they're called.

Pinterest came on scene and rocketed to the number 3 social networking site. A lot of authors signed on, but from what I'm hearing, Pinterest does not like sites to be promotion-oriented. Some authors work around it by having one folder that contains their book covers. Other authors have gone way beyond that. They've created Pinterest boards that are solely devoted to a book. At this point, it would seem to be primarily YA authors who have figured out how to use Pinterest to promote.

Every folder on their Pinterest board is devoted to bringing their book and characters to life. They have a folder with photos from the area where a character lives. If the book is fantasy, they have pictures that bring that fantasy to life. If it involves mountain biking, they have photos of mountains and trails and bikes that the character would ride, etc. They have folders with scenes that help the reader see what the writer saw when he or she wrote a scene.

Readers come to the Pinterest page and immerse themselves into the book and characters and scenes.

Pinterest is now one of the things publishers look to when they are considering taking on an author. They look to see if the author is not just on Pinterest, but are the book and characters there? Are they promoting it? How many fans have pinned their pictures? How many fans have created Pinterest boards devoted to the story?

If you want to read more about this and what's going on, check out an article in the Examiner. Have you already created a Pinterest board for your book? If so, will it go live now or after the book is published? What folders are you creating?

16 comments:

  1. I've read about Pinterest but really, how many more social networking sites can we devote time to. I'd like more ttime to get outside and soak up nature instead of looking at my computer all day. Thanks for the post. I'll do my best to resist.

    Denise

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  2. I have resisted the temptation. I need the time to write, walk and eat!

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  3. This sounds so interesting. I didn't know about that kind of book promotion, but, wow, are those authors smart. I think it's an exceptional idea to gather images that recreate a book's universe. I use Pinterest, but just for personal pleasure. Never thought about it so creatively.

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  4. I have boards for books I love and books I want to read, but I'm not sure it gets the books that much attention, since I'm not very active on Pinterest.

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  5. Gah! You can't make me! I won't go!

    The concept of showing a world from your book is fascinating, really, but I'm exhausted enough as it is with the other "got to have" social sites - that I don't juggle very well. A Pinterest board of mine would only gather dust.

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  6. Hi Helen .. I haven't joined - but I have been fascinated that two blogging friends have pinned my blog or my castles posts .. into their Pinterist sites - I need space to catch up and work out what to do .. for now I'll leave it - but I must check out my friends' sites and their pinning ..

    I'm not technically up and with it - I'm sure I'll learn quite quickly - but for now .. I'm hanging in the background watching social media in general.

    Cheers Hilary

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  7. What??! Now we're expected to be on this board too? With our books and characters? What about finding some time to write books and create characters? Egads this social media things is like an eating frenzy. I just want to get out of the way!

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  8. This is too weird, I was just over checking out Pinterest, and here you are writing about it. I scrolled through the board for a while and then started poking around on the category listings, but I am not tempted. I find it visually overwhelming, and after reading about how publishers were using it, surprising that there was no Books or Publishing category. Perhaps they are in Arts? Anyway, I think I'll pass.
    ~jon

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  9. Oh, great ... just what I need ... another social media site that I can't figure out ... Fazebook is still a mystery to me.

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  10. So far, the majority of you are on the same boat as I am. I'm not on Pinterest either, but I know quite a few people who are. It's one more thing that I'm avoiding but may be, kicking and screaming, dragged onto. Right now, I don't have the time to be doing what I'm already doing.

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  11. Right now I couldn't handle another social site!

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  12. Aw, come on, Alex. You're on everything else!

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  13. I recently gave in to Pinterest. Didn't see the point in authors collecting photos. After initial setup and some pinning, I don't pay much attention to it. I'm there, though, and see people re-pinning my stuff and know they can see my book cover. I pin memoirs I like and Japanese culture photos, i.e. stuff relating to my book. Also pin couple other popular categories I like just to attract people. Holding off on opinion of it being worthwhile.

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  14. I haven't had much time to really look at this site and I've heard that there are some legal problems with Pintrest because people can click on a picture and have it shown on their page (or whatever it's called). There have been complaints because many of the pictures are copyrighted. I think the site is a good idea if you have a hobby or you're remodeling your house and a great place to post ideas. I'm not sure it would be a good marketing tool unless your market is a younger age group.
    Ann

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  15. I haven't bitten yet. I've 2 blogs, facebook, twitter, one website and one forum to work on. When do I have time to write? Maybe I should write a murder story, killing all the inventors of social media...

    Bargain with the Devil

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  16. I try not to join in, sounds as though it would give me yet another excuse not to finish my book! :0)

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