Pinterest with Purpose

You can now find me on Pinterest! I have “boards” there for PUGS Pointers, editing tips, book reviews, The Christian PEN, the Christian Editor Connection, books I’ve read and enjoyed, authors I like, and more. Check me out there at http://www.pinterest.com/KathyIdeEditor.

Curious about Pinterest?

Of course I’ve known about Pinterest for a long time. Who hasn’t at least heard of it? I’ve even found myself there from time to time when searching the Internet for a recipe. But I wasn’t sure how something like that could be helpful to me as an author/editor.

When I heard that Mary DeMuth, Jeff Gerke, and Thomas Umstattd were doing a webinar about Pinterest on The Bestseller Society, I decided it was time to check this out. Here’s what I discovered.

Basically, Pinterest is an online tool for collecting and organizing things you love. It’s like a gigantic, virtual corkboard. You can set up “boards” for just about anything. When you find an article, blog, or website you like, you can “pin” it to one of your boards. Others can follow you, see your boards and your pins, and re-pin your items onto their boards.

Pinterest is visual—you can’t post anything without some kind of photo or graphic to “show.” By pinning blog posts, book covers, speaking engagements, and info graphics, authors, editors, agents, and others in the publishing industry can showcase what they’re doing.

Best-selling author and speaker Mary DeMuth recommends that writers use Pinterest to enhance their social-media efforts. She suggests authors pin their blog posts and tweets, and then post the Pinterest links on Facebook. It’s a great way to promote yourself, your business, your brand, and your published works. Mary also recommends posting twenty interesting posts to every one self-promotional post, such as helpful tips from other editors, books you love to read, blog posts from other writers, facts about a period in history (for historical fiction lovers), and encouraging quotes.

What other ways can authors and editors use Pinterest?

• Create boards for inspiration for novels and pin character and setting ideas.
• Allow followers to vote on book titles, book covers, or character names.
• Develop a contest on Pinterest for a book release.
• Post speaking topics, events, and dates.
• Establish a collaborative board where many contributors can pin.

According to Statista, Pinterest can drive more traffic to your website than Twitter.

Are you on Pinterest? If so, what tips do you have to share? As a newbie to this world, I’d love to hear how you’ve found Pinterest beneficial for you, specifically as a member of the publishing community.

And please visit me on Pinterest at http://www.pinterest.com/KathyIdeEditor and let me know what you think.