Image courtesy of Frank Selmo WANA Commons

Writers, these days, know all too well that social media and creating a thriving platform are a critical part of our job description. There are so many social media sites and all writers want to know, “Which one is the best?”

I don’t know if I can answer that question because writers are unique people with equally unique personalities, interests and time constraints. Thus, what I am going to do today is show you guys why Pinterest can be useful for your platform and even how to sidestep some of the copyright concerns.

For those who don’t know what Pinterest is, Pinterest is a place where users can “pin” images, video or other interesting content to digital boards. But why should you love Pinterest? Here is why…

Pinterest Can Help with the Creative Process

Pinterest is visual, so it will stimulate different create centers in the brain. Feeling burned out? In a rut? Want a creative kick-start? Few things can get the creative juices flowing like a lunch break spent on Pinterest. I have a board for images I find particularly inspiring that I call…ready for this? Inspiration.

Writers spend a lot of time with 26 letters in various combinations. We are immersed in black letters on a white page, yet, our goal is to use words to create worlds.

Whoa. Say that five times fast.

When we have an idea for a novel, it can be helpful to scour Pinterest for images that describe the characters or setting. By having a picture, we can be far more detailed in description where it counts. Create various boards for ideas you have for books, fragments and scraps that might one day make a novel, screenplay or short story. By stimulating the visual cortex, we expand our creative capacities. If authors can collect playlists that inspired a book, why not Pinterest boards that contributed too?

Pinterest Boards Can Create Community with Fans

The best social media platform is one that engages others and creates community. For those authors who are published, why not encourage fans to create Pinterest boards around a character or a book? Maybe collect images that reflect the world as they saw it? Use this for promotion and hold contests for the most creative Pinterest boards. Award prizes or even just some recognition. Maybe highlight the best boards. Get the fans involved. Let them use/contribute their own images.

I know that when NYTBSA James Rollin’s latest book, Bloodlines was released, he was featuring a new character, Kane a war dog. I suggested that he reach out to his military, fire and police fans and ask for pictures of their service dogs to highlight on their own special Pinterest board. This way the fans 1) can be part of something bigger 2) can be part of a community and 3) can have a little slice of recognition. Let the fans have a moment of fame. We all need one!

Pinterest without Fear

I know a lot of people are afraid of the whole copyright violation issue. A lot of writers have been spooked, but I think we can relax. The world is changing and so is the nature of copyright.

Every company out there would love for an ad or a commercial to go viral, so the smart companies are openly sharing content. Allstate counts on us LOVING the Mayhem commercials enough to share them with our network (ROFL Mayhem as teenage girl).

Yes, some people need to catch up and we should be smart, but there isn’t really a need to go deleting our Pinterest accounts out of fear. But I get that people are jumpy, so here are some fixes:

WANA Commons–Take the Plunge

Image Courtesy of Frank Selmo WANA Commons

One solution is to look for images on WANA Commons.  I started WANA Commons so that writers would have a place where they could find beautiful images for their blogs for free and without fear. The WANAs worldwide stepped up, and now there are now over three thousand images and climbing every day. This is where I get a lot of my stuff from.

For those shutterbug WANAs, please contribute to our archives. The more images we have, the better and this will help YOUR exposure and SEO (search engine optimization–search ranking). Bloggers are FREE advertising!

Harness the Fans

Also if we will engage people with Pinterest and let them contribute, that should take care of a lot of the copyright drama. For instance, I recommended that Jim get images from his fans, and by them (fans) contributing, they were agreeing they held the copyright and were releasing copyright to Jim/Pinterest.

Here is his Pinterest board of War Dogs. And for any military peeps out there, feel free to contribute to Jim’s board or at least pass on the word.

Just like I asked the WANAs for images, feel free to ask your followers. We all take way too many pictures and it is a real treat to have those pictures gain attention and love instead of sitting in a hard drive where no one gets to enjoy them. Send the fans out on photo treasure hunts and reward them for collecting images.

Have fans create their own Pinterest boards for the stories of ours they love. If fans create their own pin boards about our books, characters or stories, this is still powerful word of mouth (AND wonderful engagement), but WE, the author benefit without the risk. Since the fans are just creating an homage to a story they love, then they are just regular Pinterest participants and not very interesting to lawsuit happy trolls. A fan isn’t “profiting” off pinning an image that reminds them of a favorite book. But encourage fans to use their own pictures. It makes it more special that way anyway.

See if you can get fans talking and sharing images. Create a community using images. Most of us are fried from too much e-mail and so pretty pictures are a nice brain vacation. These pin boards might add depth, texture and dimension to your stories you never imagined possible.

Pinterest is a wonderful tool and I wish this copyright foolery would just STOP. I have found more sites I never would have found because of Pinterest. Shabby Apple is my FAVORITE and I intend on buying one of everything as a reward for getting rid of the final baby weight. But, we as writers do need to be careful and again, that is what places like WANA Commons is for, so you guys can enjoy and share pretty pictures without the scare…until the world and copyright laws catch up.

Pinterest is a splendid tool for word of mouth. With billions of posts a day on the Internet, we all suffer a discoverability problem. Pinterest (and sites like it) help that problem, so in my book, they ROCK. I hope I at least helped you look at Pinterest in a new way. We can take advantage of this site without a lot of the problems. And yes, it is another social site, but this one is easy and fun because who doesn’t love looking at pretty pictures?

What are your thoughts? Do you love Pinterest? What unique ways do you use your Pinterest boards? Share! We love hearing from you!

Heck, I love hearing from you!

The post Writers, Why It's Time to Renew Your Love Affair with Pinterest appeared first on Kristen Lamb.