Marketing and Promotion with Pinterest

Good Morning. Well, after publishing my latest book, I've had nothing to do this last week. Ha! Like that is ever possible. There's always stuff to be done, marketing and promotion come to mind, hence this post.

Because I'm a "quiet" marketer and hate to do blog tours, or ask anyone for help, I really haven't done much in the way of promoting my books. A few cozy interviews here, (as a matter of fact, I'll be over at my good friend Nicki Elson's on Wednesday if you want to stop by), a guest blog post there, a couple of review requests, but that's about it.

Social media has never been my strong suit. Yes, I have this blog, but this is primarily my writing blog. I blog at Anne Gallagher Regency Romance Writer to allow my fans (if any) to see what I'm doing with my books, because I don't have a website, and quite frankly, a website is static. I blog to let people know what's coming up next in my series.

I've set up a Twitter account. I've been on and off it for a couple of months. It's like an addiction when I get on it, and when my kitchen timer goes off warning me my time is up, I generally ignore it. No one can really say with a definitive answer if promoting your books on Twitter gets you more sales, and if you do promote, then you're labeled as a spammer. (But I see people promoting their books all the time, so who knows.)

I have accounts at Linked In, Goodreads, and Shelfari. But they don't really work for me. I refuse to join FaceBook, MySpace, or Tumblr.

However, after much debate, I decided to join Pinterest. I haven't worked out all the nuances yet, there's still things I need to add, and look at, but I think it takes my books to a whole other level, something I can't really do on my blog. If you want to take a gander and see what it's all about, click on this link Regency Anne and you can see what I'm talking about. If you click on one of the titles of my books, it will give you the cover blurb, and then show you all the pictures of whom I think my characters are.

I'm also planning on doing more boards with Regency clothes, homes, and architecture. Like I said, I haven't really figured out all the tricks (like how to repin, or how to find my friends to follow them) but I'm working on this slowly. Building it up over the next few months. I can then add it to my repertoire of places my fans can find me.

The nice thing is, even if I don't sell a book from my being there, it's wicked fun to do. I had a blast setting up the boards, arranging and rearranging them. It's soothing, like ironing, helps me get my organizational freak on. You know.

If you do decide to stop over there, let me know in the comments what you think. Comment here if you don't mind. (The link opens in a different window, so you don't have to worry about clicking twenty times just to get back here.) I have no idea how to comment there. If you're on Pinterest, please follow me, and once I figure out how to follow you, I'll do the same.

Tell me (the truth if you don't mind) -- Do you think this is a good idea? Or is it just a time suck? Are you on Pinterest with your books? How do you like it?