Tuesday 2 June 2015

4 Or More Pinterest Tips for Aspiring Authors

You’re an aspiring writer.  You’re set on publishing your book and you’re floundering in the editing stage.  You’ve heard about authors promoting their work on Pinterest and you thought you’d give it a shot.  Sound like you?  Well, that’s exactly where I’m at right now.

The problem is that all those blog posts are for people who have already published.  Looking to market your book on Pinterest?  Here are 20 great tips.  Are you an author who’s new to Pinterest?  This is how you should be setting up your Pinterest page.  There’s such an overwhelming amount of information out there!  I’m an aspiring author.  I’m not published yet.  What tips do you take and what do you leave?

These are the questions I’ve been facing lately and I’m out to solve them.  I googled for several ideas, and I’ve found some that resonate with me.  If you’re a writer looking to branch out into the Pinterest world, here’s some excellent advice.


1.  Create a novel inspiration pinboard (Amanda Luedeke)


Number one is definitely my top pick out of at least a hundred suggestions.  There are a number of real world settings and cultures that inspire what people write about.  If you’re doing research, pin it.  Pinning your inspiration tells visitors to your page elements what you’re including in your book and what sorts of things you’re interested in.

An article from Your Writer Platform says something similar.  “Create boards for your book’s characters, the location/setting of your novel, and other concepts that you can pull from your book that might relate to your reader’s interests.”  The key is to focus on your readers and what they might be interested in.  That’s a big challenge when all you want to talk about is yourself, but some of your interests most likely match someone else’s.

2.  Write original descriptions when you re-pin things to your board to put your own stamp of creativity. (Peg Fitspatrick)


I started doing this with a few of my pins already.  There’s a guy named Trey Ratcliff with something like five million followers who does this all the time.  The kinds of things he includes in his photos are the location, his name, and a link to his website.

I’m not that much of a keener, but I have added a few of my own descriptions to things.  I post a little blurb about how the picture or article relates to my WIP or myself.

3.  Let Pinterest showcase the special things about you. Your readers will love to learn about the person behind the writing. (Peg Fitspatrick)


This is one of the reasons why I joined Pinterest.  I can put in little bits of me, what I’m interested in, and what inspires the world building behind the book.  I just got into writing the origin story of my world, but there’s also an origin story as to wear this whole idea came from, and it’s got an eight year track record.

Below, I’ve listed a few of the topics I want to make boards for.  Not all of them are public yet as it's recommended that you have a few pins in a board before showcasing it, but I've been working on it.

4.  Stay focused: If you write cookbooks, you can pin anything food-related from vegetable gardens to table settings. But if you want to pin fashion and celebrities for your personal interests, set up a separate, personal account.  (Melissa Donovan guest blog)


There’s this whole strategy behind blogs where you have to have a niche.  It’s something that interests you, that you’re an expert in, and you’re dying to share your wealth of knowledge about with the world.

From a marketing perspective, you need to have a little focus in your social media posts and pins to get a solid following.  The same goes for Pinterest.  I highly doubt pictures of cute kittens would do well if you’re going to promote your non-fiction book about how to budget your life.  Those same kittens wouldn't do well on my fantasy-inspired boards either.

It doesn’t help to bombard your boards with everything.  Think about what you pin before you pin it.  Does it resonate with you in a particular way?  Does it inspire your writing somehow?  That’s some food for thought.

From these points, I’ve come up with a few ideas of my own that suite my tastes, and as time goes on, I'd like to set these up.

1.  World building inspiration


Straight from the ‘novel inspiration’ idea, I’ve already started throwing a few pics into a massive world building inspiration board.  These pictures and articles relate to my novel in some way, from the natural bridges in India to the origin of the Sahara Dessert.  If it makes me think of a certain setting in my novel, you can bet I’ll be throwing it in there.

2.  Ethnic clothing


The races in my book differ in several ways, including the clothes that they wear.  I draw a lot of inspiration from Japanese jimbe and yukatas, as well as the elven clothing designs from Peter Jackson’s interpretation of the Lord of the Rings trilogy.

I'm no clothing expert, but what a character wears says a lot about where he or she comes from, or what his or her trade is.

3.  Traditional food from around the world


I reached a point in my book a couple weeks ago where my main character was introduced to a brand new setting.  The characters had sat down for a meal, and it occurred to me that what they were eating and how they were eating it wouldn’t be the same as what I'm used to.

It got me thinking about how I should present food in in my imaginary world.  What foods would make sense in a certain climate?  Do all of these people have to eat with a knife and fork?  These are the questions I asked myself and a board for different culinary styles and utensils would give me inspiration to come up with something new.

4.  Sexy stationary


I LOVE stationary.  There’s nothing more satisfying than a brand new notebook, a sleek black pen, or a place to keep all those things.  When it comes to stationary and organizers, you can bet I have a thing or two to say.  Here, I’ll be pinning pictures of my favourite picks.  This idea sprung from the third point about putting in bits and things about me that are still related to writing.

5.  Dream workspace


Again, here’s another idea related to me and my writing.  Right now, I either write at a tiny desk, on the sofa, or on my bed.  That means I don’t have a designated workspace.  But heck do I want one!  I’m sure I’m not alone when I say I could use a nice workspace for writing my novel, and I’m so jealous of those people who actually have a proper desk.  So, I plan to pin ideal desk setups.

6.  Marketing/Publishing for the clueless


What’s an author’s Pinterest profile without some tips on marketing and publishing.  I’m still in the horribly fun editing stage, but I’ve been looking ahead to publishing options and marketing for the newbie.  I follow a few super helpful sites that tackle this sort of thing, so I’ve decided to get a board up about it.

7.  Writing/editing for the floundering newbie


Of course, I wouldn’t throw marketing and publishing out there without tackling writing and editing, that gruesomely awesome stage of writing a novel I’m in now.  You may even see some world building articles in there.  It’s all about the process, people, and I need all the help I can get.  I’m sure there are other aspiring authors who do, too.

So that's it!  Over the next month or so, I'll be working on getting these boards up.  What about you?  Are you a Pinterest user?  What boards do you have up?  If you’re an aspiring writer like I am, I’d love to connect with you.  Let me know what your Pinterest name is and I’ll look you up.

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