The No-Brainer Approach to Free Book Marketing

Are you considering using Pinterest as part of your author marketing platform? If you’re not actively pinning your books and other author blog-related posts on Pinterest, you’re missing out on a HUGE free book marketing opportunity, and bookstagram images and bookstagram boards are where your focus needs to be. If you love free book marketing, are tired of not having any sales, and are not using Pinterest, then you may want to consider changing your approach.

There are three main myths about Pinterest: 1) it’s for women 2) it’s for recipes and crafts and 3) that’s it’s a form of social media. Totally false. All of it. Every niche topic you can possibly think of is represented on Pinterest, including the book market. So if you’ve ever been dismissive of the power that Pinterest has to make sales or grow your email list, it’s time to pay attention here because I may just blow your mind.

Now, although Pinterest is often categorized as a form of social media, it’s not. Pinterest is a search engine and is controlled by user search and what users find useful, inspiring, and worth pinning for later or sharing. The beauty of Pinterest is that you can control where and how people find you. It’s a unique search engine because it’s not governed by site submission. Instead, it’s based on keywords, topic and subtopic. There are no forms like Google and Yahoo used to have, where you had to choose at that point in time (and that one time only) the keywords found you can change keywords regularly on each and every single pin to discover what works for your brand.

Think about the perfect account for marketing – one that allows you complete control over search, keywords, content, and isn’t follower-intensive. People could find you based on search and discover within a feed. People could simply stumble upon your content, as well. That’s exactly the kind of platform Pinterest is, and one you may want to consider putting a significant investment into (not monetarily, but time-wise).

Pinterest is Amazing – But Work with an Expert First!

Now, I know there are other authorpreneurs blogging about Pinterest, and how effective it can be. But when you look at their accounts it’s not showing very much monthly traffic or even followers. What I find is that while other authorpreneurs have the right idea, most of the time, about Pinterest, it’s not a topic they heavily focus on, and they’re not exactly as active on Pinterest as they could be to be considered an expert in this area. I wrote “the book” on Pinterest. They may have done some of their own research or read a few articles with it and have found a mild sense of success.

Pinterest is amazing. Don’t be discouraged by low numbers by other authorpreneurs with smaller accounts who are not actively pinning. Take a look at bigger accounts and those of Pinterest professionals who specialize in design as well as writing – Pinterest users in the book marketing field that are heavily design-intensive as well as content-driven. And then you’ll see the incredible impact that Pinterest can have on your book marketing. Traffic, my friends, massive traffic. To both Amazon.com as well as to your website. This is how I grew my email subscriber list to 60k+ with ZERO cost.

Why Do Most Authorpreneur Accounts Have Such Small Monthly Visitor Numbers?

So while you may see articles on Pinterest by other authors, it can be discouraging and hard to give them much “expertise weight” when their own account isn’t designed well, doesn’t have a focus topic and rather, a hodgepodge of pins. So why would you want to do Pinterest marketing for your books when you’re not seeing incredible results on their accounts? Great question.

You’re just looking at an account that isn’t a power user. They’re not as heavily vested in this platform or may not be using great pin design. Visuals are everything and are the first impression – like your book cover. The content comes next. And if you don’t have great visuals on Pinterest to start with, no one is going to click or save your pin if it isn’t visually pleasing. And this is what I find to be lacking in a lot of authorpreneurs talking about book marketing. They have the right idea, but not the visual quality that Pinterest users insist on.

Pinterest is About the Visuals

Pinterest is visual marketing. And it’s a good idea to consult with a graphic designer or carefully study accounts that are pro-Pinterest designer users (like myself) before venturing down the road of using Pinterest so you’re not wasting time just pinning all the things.

Many authors make the mistake of uploading their book covers and short-term promotional pieces to Pinterest. This is a huge mistake. There is a huge crowd on Pinterest who love bookstagram images, which I have discovered is preferred over standard book cover images.

Pinterest is powerful because of the users. And as long as you provide meaningful, relevant and share-worthy pins, you’ll find the user base on Pinterest to be extra generous in helping pins go viral. Much more than what you’d find on Twitter, Facebook or other social media. They’re not logging on to see what their friends are pinning. They’re going to Pinterest to be entertained, plan their next meal, shopping list, to get ideas, and to plan their next read. Pinterest users SEARCH. It’s not a social area – they want to search for things they’re interested in and want to try, do or read.

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Ways to Use Pinterest as an Author

As an author, you can use Pinterest to find:

• Recipes to include in your books
• Food/drink ideas for your characters
• Tutorials on technology, websites, writing software, everything
• Writing prompts and tips on writing
• Book marketing advice and power bloggers in these fields
• Destination ideas for your next book
• Book cover ideas
• Information on your genre, including your genre “competition”
• Group boards to share your pins and book covers on
• Character inspiration
• Writing area and home office inspiration
• New readers!

The Demographics of Pinterest & Why You’ll Want to Get Started by Working with Me

1 in 2 millennials are on Pinterest. 66% of Pinterest users are women. Pinterest users have 18% higher disposable income. They’re not looking for free books all the time. This is a group of people that are willing to BUY things. 93% of Pinterest users go there to plan to purchase things and a surprising 87% of the users have made a purchase after finding something they want to try, do or buy on Pinterest.

So what does this mean? Just go out and pin a bunch of your books on Pinterest and hope for the best? Slow down, slugger. There’s a way to do Pinterest “correctly” for business and marketing. It’s not just about pinning, and for authors, you’ll want to shift and invest in creating bookstagram images. There’s a system to learn to ensure that your time spent on Pinterest is worthwhile, effective, and so that you grow your monthly views. And, you really need to understand how to design a fantastic-looking pin. Each account I’ve worked on and every author I’ve worked with on Pinterest has grown by over 1000%-8000% within a matter of weeks with a few strategic decisions and planning.

Ways to Leverage Pinterest as an Author/Writer

There are several ways to market yourself and your books on Pinterest, and there are so many that I created a course for authors called “Pinterest Marketing for Authors”, so you can learn how to use this powerful search engine to your advantage. For example, there’s over 10 ways to use Yasiv.com and Pinterest together to plan your pins and help your books be found. I discuss things like that and show you how in my course.

But here are just a few key things (the rest are taught in my course) that you can do to better position yourself on Pinterest to market your author platform:

1. Create a board that is specifically all the content from your website – all your blog posts and book products will be shared there. Don’t just create a bunch of boards that are inspiration for your book, characters, plot, setting, etc. (I see this being recommended a lot by other authorpreneurs) – it has no search relevance for your visitors. Keep those kinds of boards secret.
2. Use groups boards and request access to them to reach new readers. There are a few tricks  to getting the attention of the group board owner that I talk about in the course.
3. Develop a pinning schedule so that you’re pinning nonstop while you focus on your writing.
4. Use your other social media accounts to drive attention and focus to your Pinterest account. Share your pins often and regularly.
5. Join Facebook groups related to Pinterest pinning and share groups to help expand your reach.
6. Use pop-ups on your site and embeds to encourage sharing of your book-related pins. Use bookstagram images regularly.
7. Use a consistent design with your Pinterest pins. Ensure that your site is branded and on-point, one that encourages email signups with value adds.

If you are an author and haven’t taken my course designed specifically for writers and authors who are trying to market their book on a zero-dollar budget, this is one that you’ll want to take and implement into your book marketing plans. It’s a surefire way to gain traction for your book, consistent sales and traffic, and will surely boost your ranks.