By Carolyn Howard-Johnson, author of the multi award-winning The Frugal Book Promoter
I just started using Pinterest. It’s the new social network that
many are saying “I don’t get it” about, just like they did when they first ran
into Twitter. Now we’ve all been Twitterfied.
I didn’t get it, either, but I've been applying lots of general
marketing techniques to Pinterest and that gave me a bit of a headstart. Now
people are asking me what I think of it for authors and I’ve been telling them
that Pinterest is like any other promotion or social network. If you want
something to be successful, you have to promote the promotion.
An example. I got started by telling my author friends on Facebook
that if they pinned one of my books to their account, I'd do the same for them.
I have several different book boards (like bulletin boards where you categorize
posts that intrigue you. One of them is "Books by My Friends" where I
pin these books. I also pin images of gorgeous book cases, quotes, book-related
cartoons, etc. on that wall to keep it interesting rather than just a wall of
book covers, which they could find on Amazon.
I’m offer you blog visitors
the same deal, of course. But to work well, you really need to have a board
showing your book cover—preferably with related images pinned on the same
board.
We're all in this together. (-: Find me at www.pinterest.com/chowardjohnson.
Also notice how I separate out the books I write in different genres to
separate boards. And how I sometimes repeat a book image on two different
boards. As an example, the theme of my novel is rooted in tolerance so it
appears on my Tolerance board and on my Literary and Poetry board.
I believe it's little techniques like these that can make a
difference to a network that at first doesn't seem innately suited to the needs
of writers.
And yeah, its all about branding and finding those marketing
angles I talk about in The Frugal Book Promoter. You have to analyze your own
book to understand the possibilities for marketing it, for branding it, for
targeting your readers.
~Learn more about the blogger/author at www.howtodoitfrugally.com. Check out her blog for authors, too (www.sharingwithwriters.blogspot.com, www.thefrugaleditor.blogspot.com and www.thenewbookreview.blogspot.com). You can also learn more tips for authors from Carolyn with the hashmark #PinterestTip.
~Learn more about the blogger/author at www.howtodoitfrugally.com. Check out her blog for authors, too (www.sharingwithwriters.blogspot.com, www.thefrugaleditor.blogspot.com and www.thenewbookreview.blogspot.com). You can also learn more tips for authors from Carolyn with the hashmark #PinterestTip.
