Tag: pin boards

You Asked For It–Building Your Platform

In my last post I talked about pushing yourself out of your comfort zone and into a visible venue, someplace where your readers can see and meet you. There are so many different events where you, a published author, are seen as a rarity and even a bit of a celebrity. Here at Indies Unlimited many of us are published authors, and it is easy to forget how impressive this is to non-writers. Remind yourself every day that you have done something many people just dream about. Then, find those local events where you can strut your stuff.

Anyone who asks me about Pinterest will quickly realize that I am smitten. It is a brilliant concept based on the idea that one of the three founders is a prodigious collector. Pinning to your boards is like collecting in a virtual sense. I did research for this post in order to back-up my Pinterest obsession with solid facts and statistics so that you can understand why I spend any time on the site. I believe that time spent on Pinterest is an investment, and another creative way to build my marketing platform by branching out beyond the Facebook and LinkedIn groups I belong to.

Pinterest is now the third largest social media site behind Facebook and Twitter. It is, reportedly, 65% women and 35% men. This is a huge shift from January 2012 when it was over 90% women. I’ve found different numbers as to how many millions of pinners there are. Suffice it to say there are millions. And many of them are avid readers. Continue reading “You Asked For It–Building Your Platform”

Promoting Your Brand With Pinterest

Tim Ferriss, the Sensei of self-promotion.

As a writer you are your brand. Everything you post on-line, the picture you choose as your avatar, and every interaction you have with other bloggers defines you. If you didn’t realize that before, consider it now. You can look at branding as a chore, or you can use the myriad of social networking tools available and have fun showing your readers why you’re the author they want to follow.

Go ahead and Google personal branding articles – you can read these posts for days. Most of these articles will tell you, basically, the same crucial steps you need to take to successfully brand yourself. Take some time and peruse them. It is time well spent. Continue reading “Promoting Your Brand With Pinterest”

What the heck is Pinterest?

Officially, Pinterest is a ‘virtual pinboard’ that lets you pin pictures of all the beautiful, interesting and just plain cool stuff you find on the internet, and waste several glorious hours doing it. I know, I’ve done it. And not regretted a single minute.

On a purely personal level you can use it for your bucket list of places you want to see or things you want to do, you can use it to help design your garden, learn or share recipes or set your style of clothing.

On a professional level you can post inspirational pictures, the images of places you’d like to – or already have – used in your books, while also providing a glimpse of your personality. There’s a section for Your Style that I believe is supposed to be for posting pictures of clothes and shoes, but I use it for the things that say something about me as a person. It’s an interesting way to allow readers to see another side of you, to get a glimpse of the things you like, the things that interest you.

You can also post direct links to your books on it.

All that being said, it’s very easy to use. Continue reading “What the heck is Pinterest?”