Carolyn Howard-Johnson read an item I included in today’s Publicity Hound’s Tips of the Week ezine on the clever Pinterest campaign launched by Kotex, and she emailed a great idea on how she her author friends promote each other’s books on Pinterest.
“I just started Pinterest, but I’ve been applying lots of my general marketing tips to Pinterest. An example: I got started by telling my author friends on Facebook that if they pinned one of my books to their account, I’d do the same for them.
“I have several different book boards, but one of them is ‘Books by Friends’ where I pin these books. I also pin images of gorgeous book cases, quotes, book-related cartoons, etc. on that wall to keep it interesting.
“I offer your authors the same deal. We’re all in this together. (-: Find me at www.pinterest.com/chowardjohnson.
“Also notice how I separate out the books I write in different genres to separate boards. And how I sometimes repeat a book image on two different boards. As an example, the theme of my novel is rooted in tolerance so it appears on my Tolerance board and on my Literary and Poetry board.
“I believe it’s little techniques like these that can make a difference to a network that at first doesn’t seem innately suited to the needs of writers. And yeah, its all about branding and finding those marketing angles we both talk to our people about so much.”
The Publicity Hound says: I love this idea, and I especially like how Carolyn has peppered her boards with book-related quotes and photos just to keep it interesting.
If you’re an author, you’d be crazy to pass up Carolyn’s invitation. By the way, she’s the author of The Frugal Book Promoter: How to do What Your Publisher Won’t, one of my very favorite books on how to build the buzz for your book. You could spend the rest of your life following all her tips. If you do, you’ll sell lots of books.
I love the idea and I’ve already got one of Carolyn’s books pinned on two of my boards. I’ll have to get one of your books pinned on both boards now!
Fabulous. So glad to have connected you both, Sandra.
Thank you so much for this. And especially for that lovely unsolicited recommendation for The Frugal Book Promoter. Your generosity is one of the big reasons everyone loves you–in addition to your expertise, of course!
Best,
Carolyn Howard-Johnson
Carolyn, I’m so glad you let me know about this wonderful cross-promotion idea. Authors are scrambling to figure out how to best use Pinterest and this idea is a winner!
Hi Joan! I am a fellow writer and a Pinterest addict as well! I would love to recommend one of your books if you do the same for me. Follow me on Pinterest if you are interested.
Thanks, Cyndia. I love Carolyn’s idea of authors promoting each other’s books, don’t you?
Pinterest is a wonderful visual add to share your friends’ books and book trailers. I am so pleased to support and be supported while learning the “pin-it” ways. I found the best means is to pin the books from the author’s website or on a webstore, ie amazon.
Great article, Thank you Joan !!
Glad this helps. Carolyn is really doing authors everywhere a huge service.
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I’ve been doing it for quite a while now and I love seeing my friends’ books get repinned!
What a fun way to promote!
Nice to know you get a kick out of seeing your FRIENDS’ books being repinned. Give and you shall receive. Thanks for stopping by, Sandra.
Hi, this sounds a really good idea – I have a Pinterest board called BookShouts, which includes the front covers of my own books and others I like, and would be very happy to have this reciprocal arrangement with Carolyn – but I don’t understand how people on Pinterest communicate with each other. How do I contact Carolyn? Pinterest only seems to show you people’s stuff, not a way to contact them. I’m new to Pinterest, so please excuse my puzzlement and do help if you can.
When you repin a book on Pinterst, Pinterest notifies that person by email. So Carolyn would know about it.
You can also contact people on Pinterrest using the comment feature that is included with each pinned image, just like Facebook. The person who posted that image gets notified of this, too, unless they have this feature turned off. Carolyn says you can reach her in person, after May 18, HoJoNews (at) aol.com. Put PINTEREST in the subject line. Play around with Pinterest and you’ll get more comfortabel using the site. Also, look up #PinterestTip on Twitter for about 30 tips Carolyn posted under that hashmark.
Love this article and went directly to your Pinterest link. What a great way to share. Thanks so much!
Carolyn Howard Johnson is a fabulous book marketing expert and is always looking for ways to help fellow authors.
What a great idea — thank you for the suggestion and offer! It’s really amazing to see the many different ways of spreading the news about one’s book, especially thanks to the Internet and social media marketing. It doesn’t minimize the time we need to invest in marketing but at least gives us many more options to explore. Again, thanks!
What is really cool about Pinterest is that several studies I’ve seen suggest that Pinterest buyers by more than Facebook buyers.