I am a Pinning machine. See it, like it, pin it. It’s a compulsion. I have boards for everything from Fantastic Animals to Writing Nooks, Bookcases To Dream About to Recipes, Writing Tips to Eerie Atmospheres And Settings, and even an inspiration board for each of my books (set on private until they’re published).
Turns out, there are a number of ways authors can engage readers through Pinterest, and the best part – besides that there are innumerable ways to get as creative as you want – is that once you have some pins on your boards, it’s maintenance free (until you get the urge to pin some more).
So, for those of us writers who need a little direction, or those of us readers who enjoying seeing their favorite authors in their element, I thought I’d share some of the profiles I’ve discovered of authors who I think are killing it. (The names are hyperlinked to their accounts.)
(Don’t forget to check out the rest of the series about Authors Killing It On Social Media: Instagram, Twitter, Facebook & Newsletters editions!)
Jennifer Niven: Jennifer wins the award for author Pinterest creativity in my book! She has boards for her characters’ playlists, their bookshelves, fan art, dream cast, and so much more.
Sarah J. Maas: Maas has a board for each of her books which are compiled of both fanart and pins that inspired her characters and themes and her (wow – almost 73K followers) love it!
Tom Ryan: Tom (the YA author, not the author of Atticus fame) takes a more personal approach, with boards varying from “I’d Read That” to “I’d Wear That” to “I’d Eat That” to vintage YA book covers, which I think is an incredibly fun idea for a board!
Frances Caballo: I may be cheating here by including Caballo, but she has written books – non-fiction books geared toward marketing for authors. Some of her boards are about marketing material, but many are not; they’re about books and authors and anything that grabs her interest. The point is, 94.2K views every month don’t lie – she knows what she’s doing.
If there’s an author who you think is killing it on Pinterest, I want to know about it! As a reader, what kind of boards/pins by your favorite authors are you interested in?
To see what my busy, busy pin finger’s been up to, click here.
But it’s a necessary evil, right? Everyone blogs about how important it is. There are even multiple websites that have been created to help ‘simplify’ managing your accounts and posts. So, if you want to be a successful writer, you have to be active on social media. I think I’m going to have to call BS on this one.
their page. If us writers don’t support each other, then who will? But in all honesty (and this probably won’t gain me any popularity or ‘likes’), our time is probably better spent focusing on our craft than on social media. You can have a million ‘likes’, followers, comments, hits a day, what have you, but it means nothing if you don’t have a good product. And even with the apps and websites that ‘simplify’ and provide content for your posts, it still takes so much time. Too much time. Time better spent writing.
developing my brand. I’ve met some great people and made some wonderful connections, but I’ve had an epiphany – I’m putting the cart before the horse. Yeah, I want to be prepared to take the publishing world by storm when the stars align and I have the agent and the book deal and the need to spread the word far and wide that people should read my book. But getting published is a lengthy process. It takes an average of two years between getting a book deal and the book being published and hitting stores. So, maybe there’s a little too much emphasis on social media. Maybe, it’s better not to spread yourself too thin. Or, maybe I’m wrong.
Shannon Hollinger 