I always say I’m a reader first, author second. It’s true! And as a reader, I love anything that connects me to books, especially social media. I know not everyone loves social media (there are times I certainly don’t!), but the one feed you have most control over what you see is Pinterest!
If you’ve never used it before, Pinterest is essentially that part of your desk where you’ve tucked all those articles you clipped from magazines over the years, plus all of your cookbooks, recipe clippings, notes and lists, pics of haircuts to show your stylist, the home decor and craft pamphlets you snagged at Hobby Lobby that you might get around to someday, plus the whole of the internet all rolled into one site. Only it’s VIRTUAL so you can organize it the way you see fit and no one will judge your clutter or care if you saved an entire stash of cat memes. LOL!
I’ve been pinning since Pinterest came online (2010). Long before I became an author, I was a stay at home mom with three small kids, and the internet was booming with amazing ideas for keeping them busy, recipe blogs, crafts I wanted to try, home decor ideas, and more. Pinterest kept my interests organized without overwhelming me. By then, I was also a professional crafter with an Etsy shop, and I could pin pics of my work/listings, showcase what I could do for custom orders, etc. Naturally, when I became an author, I put it to work for me there as well.
I’ve recently discovered even more ways to use it as both an author and a reader, but I also asked around to find out what other authors AND readers have to say about using this handy tool!
Many authors (myself included) use it for:
- Keeping all of their inspiration and research for a particular book organized
- Saving those wonderful reviews and interviews from book bloggers for a boost on the self-doubting days
- Storing links to websites we’ve found helpful, classes we want to take, and other learning resources
- Stashing things we might want to use for future books into secret boards
- Sharing a behind-the-scenes look into our writing with our beloved readers
- Pinning all the other things everyone else does from recipes to workouts to haircuts and more, allowing our readers to know who we are as humans and not just as writers of kissing books
Here’s a short list of ideas from other readers polled from the Avid Readers of Christian Fiction group on Facebook:
- Boards for organizing their TBR virtually—read vs to-read
- Pinning blogger reviews to read later when deciding on a book in the TBR pile
- Sub-categorizing boards by author and then pinning all that author’s books
- Saving bookish products/ideas as a virtual wish list
- Pinning reading memes to laugh at later (these are my people!)
- Enjoying some safe, light stalking of their favorite authors
- Following other readers and authors to find new books, then building that TBR into infinity
What do you think about Pinterest? Have you used it for any of the things I mentioned? Do you have any new ways not yet noted? I would LOVE to hear from you in the comments! You can also follow me at https://www.pinterest.com/weaversgrrrl/. And if you keep scrolling, I’m including a handy dandy list from several of our Inspy Romance authors who pin! I also have to give a shout out to one of my favorite authors to follow on Pinterest, Becky Wade. She and Katie Ganshert get into some hilarious who-did-it-best Pinterest wars with their crafting skills!
Now for those IR author profiles (not everyone sent me theirs, so you can check our AUTHORS tab for more):
You can find me and all of my craziness at https://pinterest.com/weaversgrrrl
Valerie Comer: pinterest.com/valeriecomer/
Toni Shiloh: Pinterest.com/tonishiloh
Amy Anguish: pinterest.com/msguish/
Jan Thompson: http://janthompson.com/pinterest
Milla Holt: https://www.pinterest.co.uk/millaholtauthor
Janine Rosche: Pinterest.com/janinerosche
Teresa Tysinger: pinterest.com/teresatysinger/
Janet W. Ferguson: pinterest.com/janetwferguson/
Valerie M. Bodden: pinterest.com/valbodden/
Narelle Atkins: pinterest.com.au/narelleatkins/
Liwen Y. Ho: pinterest.com/authorliwenho
Until next time, happy pinning! Be blessed!
I have an account, but don’t use it very often. Every once in a while I will search for a recipe but that’s about it.
Before I got married I did use it to save wedding dresses I liked, cakes, hairstyles etc…
I like Pinterest but do not utilize it as much as I should. I also haven’t figured out how to add a Pinterest link to my blog so I can share my blog on there. Thanks for the post!
As a reader I use pintrest to save all the books I like by year they come out, especially when a new cover is released. Then I can scroll through them and see what I might have missed adding to my Amazon or goodreads wishlist. My 2022 list is already underway.
That sounds amazing! What’s your @ so I can follow your boards?
Hi Jaycee @cazpretorius is my page, enjoy I keep adding to them all the time :).
I have an account but use it as I need to do a project or a craft or a gift idea.
It can take a lot of time to browse around lol
LOL! Right? Definitely can be a time sucker if we let it.
Awesome! I’m glad you’re getting good use out of Pinterest. And yay on the follows! I’ll follow back. 😊
I could use Pinterest for SO much more than I do…lol! I’ve found it quite addicting in when I first signed up for it, but have gotten away from it lately. I love it though and have several boards on there, mostly for books or author stuff.
My boards are:
Specific authors for book launches and/or promotions & graphics to share on FB or Twitter. Then within those specific boards are some book quote graphics I’ve created for promotion
Books I’ve read by year
Book reviews
Book memes & favorite graphics (mostly funny ones)
Giveaways
Recipes….I only have a few here but I KNOW I could flood it with millions more, lol!
Haircuts I like
1800’s fashion
Regency Fashion
About the only ones I keep up with anymore are my books I’ve read & book reviews. Sometimes I pin a pin for a giveaway.
I do love seeing author boards for the books they have out or will be out soon. I’ve also seen Becky Wade vs Katie Ganshert Pinterest wars….those are hilarious!
Oh and thanks for the IR author board links here….I’ll be following them if I don’t already 😉
I love pinterest.
Me too, Denise, meeee too! Lol!
I have never used Pinterest, but I can see how it could be useful for an author.
It certainly it, even if not for everyone. 😊
I really have not used it much. I have posted cute kitten/cat pictures as well as books and contests. God bless you.
We do what works for us! Lol!
I pin all my book reviews, recipes, craft ideas, etc. I already followed most of the authors and added the couple I didn’t.
Awesome! Glad to hear it’s working for you!
I love Pinterest. It’s my rabbit hole of inspiration. I keep saying I’m going to pin more, but every time I start scrolling I get lost in the Pinterest Wonderland. I do have a few boards that I fall back on for inspiration though. I love that it’s visually appealing. Photos are something of a hobby of mine, so I’m always drawn to a crisp and clean image.
LOL! Yes! I wholeheartedly concur.
I have Pinterest and I really like it. Have a great week and stay safe.
Sweet! You too!
I finally jumped o the Pinterest bandwagon last year but I hadn’t thought of using it as a reader and haven’t checked out any author’s boards.
Hopefully now you have some ideas for getting started if you’re so inclined! 😆
The few times that I have followed someone’s link to Pinterest and tried to scroll through what was there, I got totally overwhelmed and confused. Things like lots of pictures and no words for context. I’m sure that some of them were pop culture people in some area in which I am clueless. Then I would see the same picture pinned multiple times in the course of scrolling. Frustrating. It’s like looking at the digital equivalent of what that person doodled in their notebook during a boring lecture.
If I were to hand someone my files of collected stuff, it would not surprise me to find that they were struggling to make sense of it. They’re organized by my own crazy mind. Sometimes that makes sense (like “Cartoons I have drawn”) and sometimes it doesn’t (stuff I want to keep that I collected when I cleaned off my desk last Friday). I might want to share the first one but the second should not be released into the wild.
Maybe I just got pointed in the wrong direction or thrown in the deep end without knowing how to process all the info. Since I don’t use the vast majority of social media, I’m likely to steer clear of something until I understand it better.
Anybody got a Pinterest board of blog posts containing lists of all the Facebook groups that discuss LinkedIn tutorials on how to use Pinterest?
Yeah, I thought you would. 🙂
Lol! You make some very valid points. 😆 Their help page is actually quite useful for learning if people are so inclined. But social media is t for everyone, obviously, and that’s understandable!
I do not have Pinterest but there I have found nice collections of clean fantasy or Christian romance in all subcategories (ok less romantic suspense I have not tried that yet) and then looking at the beautiful covers and the name of their authors I can search for them!
It can be a great visual help for sure. Thanks for commenting!
I have to admit while I have an account and pinned a few blogposts I don’t really use it. Never really understood it but get really frustrated when I am looking for something online and am sent there but can only see the picture but not the info on what I am searching for.
Maybe I need to learn how to use it more.
I can certainly understand that. They do have a help page with some pretty useful video tutorials, but it’s not for everyone and that’s totally okay!