Pinning* for Middle Grade

“Are you on Pinterest?” When teacher after teacher asked me this last school year, I figured it was time for me to finally see what it was all about. After all, I’m supposed to be the tech person in my school building! I was more than a little reluctant, though, because I already am a neglectful blogger, sporadic tweeter, and half-hearted Facebooker. I really didn’t need the guilt of another social media account I couldn’t keep up with.

In Pinterest, if there are any of you not “on it” yet, you create pinboards of topics that interest you, then you “pin” pictures and links that you come across on the Internet. It’s social because people can follow you and you can follow others—whole accounts or just the “boards” of theirs that interest you. If you see something of theirs that interests you, you can repin it to your boards.

So…I joined. Back then you had to get an invitation to join. Now you can request an account. As I signed up, I read Pinterest’s tag line: “Pinterest is an online pinboard. Organize and share things you love.” 
Hmm, organize. I liked that. Sharing’s good. And visual is always a plus in my book.

Then I started creating boards--and I realized that Pinterest was really quite different than Twitter or Facebook or blogging. Rather than yet another stream that I felt obligated to contribute to and check, my Pinterest account had the capability of being something useful to me all by itself. As the months have gone by, as expected, I haven’t done a lot with the social aspect of Pinterest, but I have come to love it for the organizing and inspiring my reading and writing life.

I’m still definitely a fledgling pinner. But, if you’re a reluctant pinner like I was, here are some board ideas that might get you started pinning.

• This one is less for me than for my readers, but I created a board for each of my books. For example, my upcoming middle grade mystery, MALCOLM AT MIDNIGHT’s board has pins of photos of old schools, sketches I drew as I wrote, articles about the amazingness of rats, my book trailer, interviews I’ve done, reviews, anything for anyone who’s looking for more about the book…it’s all there. Pinning a link or photo to Pinterest is SO much easier than uploading a photo or a link to my website. It looks better, too. And I can link from my website directly to this board.
• A board of writing ideas. I’m constantly coming across things on the internet that fascinate me. I used to keep a private blog where I jotted down these story “seeds,” as I call them. Now, I pin them. It’s so fun to see an article on Ghengis Khan pinned next to one on the discovery of a new planet that might have water. It’s my favorite board to browse because the ideas can't help but percolate.
• A board of writing tips. I’ve gotten a whole writing education off of the generosity of blogging writers. Many of these invaluable posts I’ve bookmarked through the years, but I didn’t often go back to them, because sometimes the titles are a little obscure and I’d forget what they were about. Now that I’ve pinned them, not only do I have the visual, but I can write a line or two about what I found valuable in that article.
• A board of my favorite blog/articles I’ve written. I’ve blogged on and off for…eight years (?! ). While most of my posts are pretty forgettable, there are a few I’m kind of proud of. Pinterest allows me to highlight these, instead of having them lost in a jungle of posts complaining about my children and how they won’t allow me to write.
• Boards of favorite books. I also blog at Sleuth, Spies, and Alibis, and recently, I used Pinterest to create a board of new young adult and middle grade mysteries coming out this fall. So much easier than typing them all out! And there’s nothing prettier than a page full of great book covers!
• A board of research links for my work-in-progress. As I work on my new manuscript, I’ll be creating a board for that book even before it gets published. Kind of like my own scrapbook of inspiration—pictures of settings, characters, and links to research that I might need to refer back to.

And finally, if you want to really stretch yourself and tap into the social parts of Pinterest, you just might find some readers there. As I mentioned at the beginning of this post, teachers and librarian are BIG users of Pinterest (check out the Education subject boards). By following their boards you can peek through the window of their worlds…and the worlds of your middle grade readers. And some of them just might follow you back.

Want to know more about Pinterest for writers? I found these articles and posts especially helpful:

• Writers, Why It's Time to Renew Your Love Affair with Pinterest (Kirsten Lamb's Blog)
• Pinterest for Readers and Writers
• Pinterest Things Writers Should Know (Rachelle Gardner)
• Very Pinteresting!: The Hot Social Network is Taking Educators by Storm (Kate Messner, School Library Journal)

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*Not to be confused with PINING for middle grade (of which I am also guilty).
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W.H. Beck (www.whbeck.com) is an elementary school librarian and the author of MALCOLM AT MIDNIGHT, a middle grade mystery starring classroom pets at midnight. It comes out on the first day of school (Sept. 4--next week)! Her Pinterest boards can be found at http://www.pinterest.com/whbeck.

Marketing Consultation Giveaway!

It might be just me, but the words "self-promotion" send down a shower of stressful thoughts and stomach-tightening anxiety. On the off chance some of you other lovely authors cringe at the thought of look-at-me marketing tactics, Project Mayhem wants to help! Marketing genius and MG author Shelli Johannes is here today to offer us some strategic methods that can help get our writing into the hands of readers. In a non-obnoxious way.

Not only that! Shelli has offered to give away a one-hour phone marketing consultation to one lucky reader. Read on to hear from Shelli and learn how to enter.

PM: Welcome Shelli! Thanks again for joining us. Let's get to it. What is the #1 self-marketing tool authors should consider.

Shelli: I hate to call it marketing...

PM: Thank you for that! So do we! :)

Shelli: ...But I think building a platform and social network is critical. Build relationships online and help others. What comes around goes around. That, to me, is the best tool an author can have. Other than that,

it depends on your target audience.

PM: What, in your opinion, is a time waster?

Shelli: Being online all day. You need to schedule your online time. Choose one hour in the morning to tweet, facebook, answer e-mails, blog questions, etc. Then, turn off your wireless and work. Maybe schedule three intervals a day and do it all at once. You can use tools like twaitter to schedule tweets if you want them out there. So look for tools that help you streamline online.

PM: This is so true. All the online possibilities and demands can really cut into writing time. And there's so many options! Twitter, Google-plus, Facebook, blogs - how's an author to choose?

Shelli: An author needs to do what they feel comfortable doing. Don't get on Facebook or Twitter if you are not going to use it to your advantage. Don't start a blog if you blog four times a year. It's not worth the energy. Pick one or two things, and do them really well. There are so many places - Wttpad, Tumblr, Pinterest - you could get lost. Pick one and go for it. Make sure you pick one where your target audience is. Don't hang out on Facebook all the time if you are trying to reach eight to twelve year olds.

PM: That's a great point. It seems like there's a lot of good advice out there about marketing, but it can be so overwhelming! And when it comes to a book launch, things just increase exponentially! You've launched two books recently, UNTRACEABLE for YA readers, and your tween novel ON THE BRIGHT SIDE. What do you recommend as far as swag and giveaways?

Shelli: If you do signings or massive giveaways - have swag. Everyone loves to get free stuff. But you can be creative. Does it have to be a bookmark? No. I have a friend who has a book in winter and an accident happens on ice. She gave out ice scraper key chains. Try to give out something different to get attention.

Also, when I say massive giveaway, I mean if you do a giveaway online, then don't just give out free bookmarks, because the stamp to ship costs more than the bookmark. Do one or two big packages - t-shirt, bookmark, and a book. Make the shipping worthwhile.

If you don't have tons of money, do one big giveaway at a singing to those who show up and use that as a marketing tool to get people in. Everyone loves pens and bookmarks and they are not expensive. If you do them, make sure it has book title, author, and a website or isbn - something so they know what it is later.

PM: I would love a bookish ice-scraper! What a brilliant idea! This has given us lots to think about for online marketing. What about bricks and mortar promotion?

Shelli: I recommend contacting indie store owners or librarians. Call them and say hi. Maybe send them a reminder by post or e-mail about your book. Think about what you can offer them. Do they have a book club? Do they like bookmarks for their readers?

Again, don't just send out a mass e-mail or a mass postcard mailing. It isn't personal. This is where relationships come back into play.

PM: That seems to be a theme running throughout all your responses. Taking the time to build personal relationships - whether online or in person - not only helps get your writing into the hands of readers, it's fun! The online community of writers and readers is wonderful, welcoming, and full of interesting people. Thanks so much for sharing your tips with us today, Shelli! We'll put them to good use!

Now, I'd love to hear from our readers in the comments. What thoughts do you have on book promotion? What drives you crazy? What do you think are especially helpful means to connect with middle-grade readers?

To enter the giveaway for a one-hour phone consultation with Shelli, follow Project Mayhem and leave a comment below! The contest will be open until midnight EST on 2/29 (happy leap year!), we'll choose a winner through random.org, and the winner will be posted on 3/1.

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S.R. Johannes is the author of UNTRACEABLE (a teen wilderness thriller) and ON THE BRIGHT SIDE (a tween paranormal). She lives in Atlanta, Georgia with her dog, British-accented husband, and the huge imaginations of their little prince and princess, which she hopes - someday - will change the world. After earning an MBA and working in corporate America, S.R. Johannes traded in her expensive suits, high heels, and corporate lingo for a family, flip-fops, and her love of writing.

You can visit Shelli online on her blog, twitter, facebook, and goodreads.