I have discovered a crazy, fun way for authors to utilize Pinterest, one of the fastest growing social sites on the web. Pinterest is image based and I'm a writer. It took me awhile to figure out how to marry the two mediums.
I started with a "Hot Book Cover" board. It's fun and I pinned my new book cover, but I didn't see it getting me anywhere fast in regards to book promotion.
However, my eyes are opening to the potential of Pinterest. Do you see your characters in your head? Do you visualize the scenes? I'm guessing you do. Pin them! I created a Pinterest storyboard for my new novel, Dead Girls Don't Cry. Not only does it bring my readers into my head, it brings my novel out of my head. I went to Google images and pinned photos that look like my characters and a few teaser scenes from the book.
I've decided that Pinterest storyboards are the poor man's version of book video trailers! They cost nothing to make. The photos are pinned, not "published" so you don't have to pay for the images or know how to edit video. Readers can get a feel for my book at a glance. A writers job is to show, not tell. What better way to show than through images?
From looking at my storyboard, it's obvious to my readers that most of my characters are teens, interesting things are happening to girls underwater, there are villains and intrigue, a little romance and the setting is high school. I added a little caption for each character and scene to give a taste and to show how they fit in with each other. I had a lot of fun creating the board and I'm going to keep adding to it. Most of the captions quotes from the book!
Loved your idea for story boarding using Pinterest...
However, as the author of "How to find totally free images, without risking your business" - I did discover that using Google images could get you into trouble, and I disagree with your statement, that if it's Pinned and not Published, using other people's images is nothing to worry about.
I don't think the US Patent and Copyright office has made a special exemption for "pinned" items, anymore than haven't made they've made an exemption for "Google+" or "Tweeting" - not being considered copyright violations.
I'd still be careful.
Here's an interesting blog post about copyright violations and Pinterest.
http://greekgeek.hubpages.com/hub/Is-Pinterest-a-Haven-for-Copyright-Violations
Uh oh! I better look into this!
The thing about Pinterest is that all photos pinned maintain their original links back to the owner of the photo.
It's like sharing a link on Facebook. If I click on Kristen Stewart's photo, share it and add a comment--I haven't stolen her photo. I've just added it to my social wall. Pinterest works the same.
I do think this is a whole new world with Pinterest. This doesn't make it right, but nobody is purchasing the photos of the recipes they pin from Good Housekeeping or the dresses they pin in the Macy's catalog.
I wonder how it will all shake out! Thanks for posting your concerns and I will look into it!!
Here is a quote I found today:
"The big question everyone wants to know is “Is Pinterest legal?” The short answer is that no one knows. There’s never truly been a service like Pinterest and the relevant court cases don’t provide a great deal of direct guidance."
Apparently, there is a lot of debate about Pinterest. I think everyone needs to look into it for themselves. I thought I knew that social sharing was okay, i.e. sharing on FB. Whenever there is a cute saying, video or photo--it goes viral and everyone re-posts it. The same happens on Twitter with re-tweets. This is how I see Pinterest working. As long as the original links are intact to the source of the photo, I don't understand the problem. But that's just my opinion. I don't know what is legal.
I do know that I can't use a photo on this blog. If I make a copy, paste it and publish it--there is no link back to the creator and no photo credit. Blogging isn't a sharing platform, it's a publishing platform.
So I remain confused and intrigued. Anyone else have any thoughts?
Jen