Pinterest for Writers Part 2 by Tina Cho

Welcome back!

This is a continuation of Pinterest for Writers which you can read part 1 here, if you haven't done so.

I already established why authors should use Pinterest. Did you know there's also a set time that's better for pinning to reach your followers?

According to Fannit Marketing Services, the best time to pin is on Saturdays from 2-4 pm, and 8-11 pm. Perhaps that's when women have downtime and can spend it perusing Pinterest without kiddos bothering them. The infographic listed here also shows posting times for other social media sites as well.

I usually check the Pinterest board feed once a week and pin to MY boards when I come across things I want to save. As with all social media, use your time wisely, and you'll get a lot accomplished in your day.

Another thing to remember about Pinterest is that teachers LOVE Pinterest. They pin lesson plans, books to use in the classroom, and crafts. I have a Teachers Pay Teachers store and created a board for my TpT items. Educators repin those pins along with other educational products I've written for work-for-hire publishers. If you want your books to get noticed by teachers, start an educational board to attract teacher followers. You could also make a board and pin lesson plans and teacher guides that relate to your book. Author Barb Rosenstock has a wonderful board of teacher-related items for her picture book The Noisy Paint Box. 

More ideas for boards:

• quotes for writers
• setting for your book (scenes, character's bedroom, maps)
• info about your characters (favorite food, clothing styles, pictures, pets)
• how-to boards (I have a how to write a novel board and everything pertaining to that goes on that board)
• poetry
• other ideas were listed in part 1

View image | gettyimages.com

Lastly, did you know there are SECRET boards? You can make a board and in the settings click the button to make it a secret board for your eyes only. I made one secret board for my current WIP which takes place in North Korea. I've pinned scenes, people, web sites, and articles that pertain to this WIP. Why a secret? Well, I don't think my followers would like to be bombarded with pins about North Korea, and secondly, sometimes a WIP is secretive until it goes out into the world :) Try making a secret board for your research or anything that you want for your eyes only. 

If you want to learn how to gain more followers or use Pinterest more wisely, check the articles pinned on this board.

If you're a newbie to Pinterest and want to know how to pin and set up your boards, check this video.

And here are boards of some of the groggers. Feel free to follow all or some of our boards!
(Thanks Grog friends for sharing Pinterest tips!)
Tina Cho
Suzy Leopold
Marcie Atkins
Jan Godown Annino
Patricia Toht
Janie Reinart
Grog Blog

Happy Pinning!

Pinterest for Writers Part 1 by Tina Cho

Remember the days of cork bulletin boards? Today's generation can use a virtual bulletin board called Pinterest, thanks to Ben Silbermann, Paul Sciarra, and Evan Sharp who started the web site in 2009 after seeing that people needed a place to put images of products they'd like to buy. Since then, Pinterest has taken off.

The Pinterest web site describes this social media as "a place to discover ideas for all your projects and interests, hand-picked for people like you."

Watch the short video about Pinterest.

Why should writers care about Pinterest when they're already inundated with other social media platforms? Glad you asked!

Mia Wenjen, a prominent blogger and social media user I found on Twitter, wrote an excellent blog post called "Social Media Marketing 101 for Authors." I highly recommend you read this! Mia suggests that of all social media platforms, "Pinterest is where it is at. Pinterest is the number one driver of referral traffic for all bloggers that I know."

Check out these stats from Pinterest:

• 1.36 million visitors a day
• 68% of users are women
• 50% of users have children
• average time spent on Pinterest is 16 minutes
• 28% of users have an average income of $100k
• average age of users is 25-34
• Pinterest shoppers spend more per checkout than Facebook and Twitter

So writers, if you haven't already, join Pinterest! It's free, but you have to have an invite from a friend. (I can send you one if you need; let me know in the comments.)

Once you're a member, you create thematic boards and pin anything to your board with virtual bookmarks called pins. (see movie above) Popular boards are crafts, recipes, home decorating and remodel ideas, etc... But writers can take advantage of these boards as well. 

• pin photos of the setting of your story
• pin photos of people whom your characters are based upon
• start a board on mentor texts (Our grogger Marcie Atkins has many already)
• pin web sites of writing classes you want to take
• pin covers of books you want to read or have read
• pin THINGS YOU'VE WRITTEN (and your family and friends will repin them)
• pin articles for research

Okay, the sky's the limit, and this post is too long. Let's continue Pinterest for Writers Part 2 on April 15th. See you then!