Pinterest: 5 Best Practices for Writers -- Or Anyone

1.)   Before you join, look at other people’s boards. What are the boards called? What kind of pictures are in them? What boards would you have, what would they be called, and what would be in them.

This involves deciding how you’ll be using Pinterest. If your answer is, “to promote my books”, don’t bother. You CAN promote your books, but Pinterest is much, much more. It’s a way to share who you are -- or, at least, who you want to present yourself as being. 

2.)   When you join Pinterest, you’re automatically set up with some boards. The first thing you should do is delete or rename any that you won’t be using. Pin stuff into at least one board other than “my books” immediately. When you follow somebody, he or she will go look at your profile. You want to have some interesting pins to offer. Upload a profile picture and fill out the profile information, including your web site or blog address.

3.)   Pin your pictures directly from the source. If you pin a book cover, pin it from the buy page or a page where it’s reviewed. People on Pinterest expect pictures to lead to the source, not to a page that has ganked the picture without attribution.

4.)   When you hover your cursor over a picture on Pinterest, three little buttons appear: Repin, Like and Comment. Do all three. Repinning means pinning the picture to one of your boards (you can make a new board right then and there, if you need to). People get a notice that you repinned their pins, and it might encourage them to look at your profile and follow you. Like pins you don’t want to repin but want to approve. Comment on other people’s pins occasionally. It’s friendly.

5.)   Now that you’re obviously a real person, feel free to be your authory self. Or your cooky self or your vacation rental self. Some of your pins can and should be about your business, but they should also be interesting. Book covers are nice and visual. You can include the price, and the covers will automatically be included in searches for gifts.

You can pin pictures of people to represent your characters, or actors you would like to play your characters. You can pin pictures of settings, houses, furniture, clothes, jewelry relevant to your stories. I have pinboards about my books, but only one is just covers: the rest are book trailers, characters, settings, and so on. I’m working on a series of mysteries set in a neighborhood of Storybook Style houses: I have a pinboard of Storybook Style architecture and elements. When the books are available, people following me will be familiar with the setting already. See how it works?

BONUS:  If you have a blog, be sure to include pictures and a Pin It button (which you can get from the Pinterest site). That way, pinners who find your blog and want to share it or a particular post with the eleventy-bazillion other people on Pinterest will have something to pin, right?

Now go forth and pin!

Marian Allen
Pinterest: http://pinterest.com/marianallena