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Am I Like My Daddy Pinterest Board

I love Writer’s Digest Magazine.  Writing is a very solitary endeavor, but when reading the informative articles each month in this well-crafted magazine, I feel like I am part of a community of like-minded people all striving to be better at the craft of writing.  This month’s issue did not disappoint.  In the September issue Laura DiSilverio, author of the Mall Cop and Swift Investigations mystery series, wrote an article about book marketing using the newest social media craze:  Pinterest.  Entitled “Pinterest is Worth a Thousand Words” she talks about this visual scrapbook site where people choose images that appeal to them and “pin them” virtually to personal boards for easy organization.  In other words, one might pin images of kitchen remodel ideas into a board or family recipes or back-to-school projects.  The social media element comes into play when people share their boards, repin other’s boards, and follow others.

DiSilverio created a board entitled Gigi’s Closet based upon a character in her Swift Investigation series that highlights fashions that Gigi might like.  How fun is that?  We all have favored characters in our minds.  Wouldn’t it be fun to go beyond the book into the mind of an author to see what she “sees” as further traits/interests of the character?

Here is what I see is the value of using Pinterest to promote your book:

1.  Pinterest allows for personal interaction with the reader giving him/her more insight into a character.

2.  Pinterest gives the author a platform to promote the nature of a book by allowing for comments that accompany the images to tell more about a book or character.

3.  Even in the writing stage, putting images in a common board allows the author to get a better image herself of the character and storyline.  For example, in the book I am writing now, I am going to create a board that has images of the main characters as I see them in my mind, their fashions, setting, etc.  It might help to give more description to the words I use in the story.

So, using Gigi’s Closet as a guide, I have created a board on Pinterest called “Am I Like My Daddy?:  Grace finds answers.”  Take a look by clicking the link above, and feel free to comment.  I have chosen to highlight both emotions and plot points you will find in the book.

I challenge you to think about your book and what you could create on Pinterest to help promote it.  Please share.  I’d love to take a look!