The ultimate Pinterest 101 for writers and bloggers

There are many ways to drive your audience to your blog and one of my favourites media sites is Pinterest. In this post we’ll be taking a look at how to set up an account, to maximise your chances of gaining new viewers, and how to set up visually enticing boards so that your followers can visually connect with your novel and get to know you a little better.

If you’re new to building your brand then I recommend reading The Importance of Building a Platform and How to Identify your Target Audience. Setting up solid foundations for your business is a vital first step, but don’t worry if you’ve jumped in feet first, sometimes simply beginning is the hardest part and I commend your enthusiasm.

Here are my four awesome tips to get you started!!

One: Set up a business Pinterest account. It looks the same as a personnel account, but has tools and analytics that will aid you and your blog. When setting up your profile, choose an image, or logo, that you’ll use across your social media and get creative with your bio. Now is the time to sell yourself, not your books. Tell your readers a little bit about you, your interests and what you write about. Put some thought into your profile using key words that correlate to you. Mine always features – fantasy-romance writer. Any content you create here can be echoed through all social media platforms to maintain a cohesive brand.

Inspiration for my second novel Mischief and Mayhem

Two: Pin boards: Use boards for historical research, to identify your characters, or help define scenes for your worldbuilding. A word to the wise, if it’s harmful to your brand, or is personal and you don’t wish to share certain boards, keep it locked from public view. Name each board with titles that use keyword to describe what’s contained within. Add boards that will direct the right audience to your profile, so for authors you could add a library board and fill it with books within your genre. Or, maybe have a board with your dream office space.

Create a unique writing den.

Three: Verify your websites ULR in settings. This took me a few tries and a couple of YouTube videos. But have faith, if I can master technology, so can  you. By linking your website/ blog to Pinterest, it creates a PIN symbol on all of your images, enabling you to link your posts to your Pinterest boards. Don’t forget to install a Pin it button to your blog, this is a vital way for you to gain more followers, readers may choose to add your content to their boards, showing your work to a new audience.

Captivating worldbuilding ideas

Four: Use great images in your blog. A picture says a thousand words, or so I’m told. Pixabay, Pexels and Unsplash are fantastic sites that offer free stock images, that have no attributes or royalties attached. Don’t forget to edit each image when you add it to your blog, in the alt description box, use keywords to help new audience members find your content. Those keywords are used as the primary function of Pinterest, which runs as a search engine using those keywords. So it’s time to get savvy with SEO.

Finally learn SEO 😉

Do you use Pinterest? Is it one of your favourite media sites? Perhaps you have another tip to share, don’t be shy, you know I love hearing from you.

Thanks for stopping by, until next time, Much Love.

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© Author Lorraine Ambers and http://www.lorraineambers.com, 2019.

Ten Steps… Stop Daydreaming and Start Growing your Business

We all have aspirations of becoming more successful, of being more fulfilled? Have you always romanticised about being a writer? Or about finishing your novel? Maybe, like me you hold onto the possibility of being published. But here’s the catch, dreams won’t come true by fantasising about them. No, you have to put in the work.

Some of you are wondering, but how? Where do we start? Well, I’m here to guide you through the process – read my Ten Step Plan to get you on track. It’s time to be brave, battle through your fears and start taking action towards your dreams.

• Commit – This should come as no surprise, but the next step in your plan is to actually commit. You’ve pictured the end goal, held the dream in your heart, filled notebooks and Pinterest boards with your ideas; the next move is to make a promise to your self to start. If your vision hasn’t taken off yet, then there is obviously a level of difficulty to it. Not to worry, the following steps will help.

• Plan – Well done, the hardest part is beginning. We’ve all heard that person who constantly talks of setting up a business, or writing a novel, or converting their loft into a studio. While they have committed to the idea, they have yet to make any plans. And that’s what you should do, write it down, create a course of action and make sure it logically supports the envisaged dream.

• Study – What? Why? I hear you groan. If it’s a necessary skill to your business, then committing to learning everything you can about that industry is vital. As a writer, I studied by attending a creative writing course, and now my skills are worked upon by reading, writing, editing and working with Critique Partners. Maybe you need to touch up on you marketing skills, or research Platform Building, or discover your Target Audience. Whatever the issue, there will be some form of developing and growing your skillset.

• Practise – This is where the ground work begins, building the foundations as you being to cultivate your dreams. Get dirty, get bruised and tumble into self-doubt; and then dust yourself off and climb back on that metaphorical unicorn, ready to chase your dreams over the nearest rainbow. Never give up, because you never know how close you are to making your ideas blossom into reality.

• Action – Finally, it’s the moment you’ve been waiting for. TA DAA!! Take those tentative steps into the unknown. Be warned, reality has wicked sense of humour: Don’t be disheartened by the truth, that no matter how much effort we’ve invested up to this point, we will inevitable not be where we want to be. Maybe we’re not confident enough, fast enough, or media savvy enough. There will come a time when you hit a wall, it happens to everyone. The difference between success and failure is that the successful people never quit. Don’t berate yourself, it’s all part of the process, so let’s continue onwards with our Ten Step Plan.

• Community – Developing a strong foundation of people who encourage and motivate you will help you stay the course through difficult times. Whether they’re friends and family, an online group for entrepreneurs, or the wonderful world of fellow bloggers; having people who can offer support when you need it most is beneficial.

• Health – It can be a long, winding road to reaching your goals. And many creatives struggle with mental health. It’s important to listen to your body, watch out for signs of stress and anxiety and take care of yourself. If you crash from Creative Burnout, your beloved dreams will temporarily perish. The same applies for the health of your body, so get some sleep, eat healthy meals, and take time to recover.

• Take Risks – For life to move forward in a new direction, risks must be taken. It’s easy to stay safe, to live in your comfort zone, but nothing changes. Everyday push your boundaries, it’s the only way to grow and develop (and not just in business). Make that call, ask that blogger to beta read, attend that writing conference. It doesn’t have to be massive steps. In fact, my number one peace of advice to budding new entrepreneurs is: Conquer your fears by taking small steps, one at a time, but keep moving forward. This is how you build self-esteem, by looking back and recollecting all of those tiny achievements. You can do it, you’re AWESOME!

• Embrace Failures – No one is perfect, humans make mistakes, and failure in some form or another is inevitable. Don’t wallow in the misery of what you’ve lost, instead find the silver lining and learn from the valuable lessons gained. What will you do differently next time? Where will you invest more? How will you overcome the current hurdle and rise victorious?

• Celebrate Each Triumph – Life is like trying to climb a giant beans stalk, instead of gazing up at the blanket of clouds and imagining the glittering castle beyond (or, your ideal vision of success). Celebrate each leaf that you climb! Remember to look back at all the other small accomplishments you’ve made, because that is embracing the journey, and that is the true measure of your success.

What step are you embracing at the moment? Do you have any advice for your fellow readers, maybe a further steps to add? Whatever your message, please comment – you know I love hearing from you.

Thanks for stopping by, until next time, Much Love.

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© Author Lorraine Ambers and http://www.lorraineambers.com, 2019.

Writers: Identify your Target Audience

Writers are busy creatures, apart from writing and editing, we’re continuously developing our brand and building our platform. We’re constantly striving to reach out and connect with our audience. But have you ever stopped to consider who they are? Unfortunately, your story will not appeal to everyone, so ask yourself – who is going to read your book?

We shouldn’t waste precious time on social media, slogging away at the wrong audience. We want to target the readers who will find our story irresistible, those who will take delight in snatching it off the shelf to devour the secrets within. It’s time to stop the busy work and work smart.

So how do we find them? With a little bit of reseach, that should be easy right?? Queue – internal groan!! But there’s no need to worry, relax, we’re writers, and we’ve got this.

First of all, we need to take a closer look at the readers preferences: what do they like to see in the stories they read. And then do a little more research into the reader demographic: those who enjoy, relate to, and connect with the story.

Genre and sub-genre- Readers tend to gravitate to towards a preferred genre. My favourite genre is Fantasy, and within that my sub-genres I love epic/high fantasy, fantasy- romance, and paranormal romance. But I tend to avoid Romance Fiction, or plot driven Fantasy about war.

Plot vs Character- Some readers want a slow-paced story, driven by mysterious events. Others want to enjoy the journey of the characters, taking pleasure from their deep development. My novels are character based, with a fast-paced plot full of adventure and tension.

Period settings and worldbuilding– Some readers might be drawn to a specific time period, a particular setting, whilst others are drawn to the escapism of a whole new world.

Writing style– Perhaps your reader desires the luscious, poetic prose of literary fiction. Or the easy flow of commercial writing with its straight-forward style.

Age- Fiction is divided into different categories; Middle Grade, Young Adult, New Adult, and Adult. It’s important to determine who your writing for because your character’s age, and their experiences should be relatable to the age group your writing for. Also this will have an impact on the size of your novel, as the industry tends to expect novels to stay within a certain range. For example, YA novels are usually between 60,000 – 80,000 words.

Gender- This won’t necessarily have a huge impact on your audience, after all, everyone has individual taste that isn’t gender dependant. However, it’s worthwhile noting that some genres tend to have a larger demographic following. Romance maybe appeal to a wider female audience, whereas gritty war stories may be preferred by a male audience. It goes without saying, of course both of these types of stories can be enjoyed by any gender.

And we can go further, refining our target audience with themes such as, culture and race, sexual preferences, disability, mental health, religion, and personal traumatic experiences. Do any of these themes play an important role in your novel? Perhaps they’ll tap into a specific audience who will emotionally connect with the heart of your story.

Once you’ve built up a picture of who your audience is, ask yourself these questions. What do you like to read? What do you like to write? Who are you writing for? What writers are similar to work? Where would your novel sit in a bookshop or library?

You may not be able to identify your target audience right away, it might become more apparent once your story develops. When I first started writing I thought my target audience was Young Adult, but after a few meetings with editors and agents I realised my novel was more suited to the Adult genre. So don’t stress if you get it wrong, it’s all experience.

What challenges do you encounter when trying to identify your audience? Please share your experiences, you know I love hearing from you.

Thanks for stopping by, until next time, Much Love.

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© Author Lorraine Ambers and http://www.lorraineambers.com, 2019.