Pinterest for Authors: Why Pinterest Might Be Your Secret Marketing Weapon as an Author or Publisher
This content is brought to you from a workshop we ran in 2024 with the incredible Debbie Gonzalez from PinLit.
If you think Pinterest is just for recipes, weddings, and home décor, you’re missing one of the most underutilized marketing platforms for authors and publishers.
Pinterest is not social media. It’s a visual search engine — more like Google than Instagram — with the potential to keep delivering traffic to your books, blog posts, and products for years. And unlike most platforms, Pinterest doesn’t bury your content after a day or two. Your pins can live forever, showing up in searches months or even years after you post them. This is exactly why we’re highlighting Pinterest for Authors!
Here’s why Pinterest deserves a place in your author marketing toolkit — and how to think differently about using it.
1. Pinterest Has a Massive, Engaged Audience
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465+ million active users worldwide (98 million in the US.)
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97% of searches are unbranded — meaning small presses, indie authors, and new voices can compete on equal footing with the big publishers.
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Users come with intent: they’re actively searching for ideas, inspiration, and solutions. This isn’t passive scrolling — it’s purposeful discovery.
When someone searches “historical fiction set in Scotland” or “picture book about kindness”, Pinterest doesn’t just serve them big-name publishers. If your pin is well-optimized, you can show up right beside them.
2. Pinterest Content Works Like a Library, Not a Bar
One of the best ways to understand Pinterest is to compare it to Instagram:
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Instagram is the bar. It’s loud, fast-moving, full of chatter. You need to keep showing up to be noticed.
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Pinterest is the library. Users search quietly and intentionally. They’re looking for exactly what they need — and when your content matches that, they’ll save it, revisit it, and click through.
This means your marketing mindset has to shift from “look at me” to “how can I help you?”
It’s about creating content that meets your ideal reader’s needs, not just announcing your book release.
3. Evergreen Content = Long-Term Visibility
Unlike most social platforms, Pinterest is evergreen. A pin you post today can still bring you traffic years from now. Workshop presenter Debbie Gonzalez shared that pins she created back in 2019 are still driving visits to her site.
Why? Because Pinterest acts like a digital bookmark. People save pins to boards they revisit when they’re ready to take action — which could be weeks, months, or even years later.
4. Pinterest Is Built for Discovery Through SEO
Pinterest runs on search engine optimization (SEO). The more precisely you use keywords in your pin titles, descriptions, and even your profile bio, the better the platform’s algorithm understands who you are and what you offer.
Debbie’s tip: write for the robots first, then for your audience.
That means:
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Using both short-tail keywords (“historical fiction”) and long-tail keywords (“historical fiction set in Paris 1940s”).
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Optimizing every pin with descriptive, keyword-rich copy.
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Filling your profile bio and board descriptions with relevant search terms.
5. Pinterest Users Are Planners — and Buyers
Pinterest isn’t where people go for breaking news. It’s where they go to plan:
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A holiday gift list
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A classroom reading activity
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A future trip
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A summer reading list
This means they’re primed to buy, but they might not do it instantly. Your pins warm them up over time, guiding them from interest to purchase.
6. The Platform Rewards Positivity
Pinterest intentionally cultivates a positive environment — and they enforce it. Posts with harmful, overly negative, or triggering language can get flagged or removed. For sensitive topics, frame your content with constructive, hopeful, or wellness-focused language.
For authors, this is a plus: it keeps the platform a welcoming place for readers to engage with your content.
7. Ads Are Affordable and Effective
Once your account is established (2–3 months of consistent posting), you can supercharge your reach with low-cost Pinterest ads:
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Campaigns as little as $2–$3/day can get thousands of impressions.
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You can target by age, gender, interests, and more.
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Boosts are especially effective for high-value landing pages like free chapter downloads, book bundles, or teacher/reader guides.
8. It Works for Every Stage of Your Author Career
Whether you’re:
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Pre-published and building awareness,
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Launching your first book,
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Or managing a backlist…
Pinterest can help you reach the right audience — educators, librarians, parents, book club organizers, genre fans — with content they’ll keep coming back to.
9. You Don’t Need Endless New Content
You do need fresh pins, but that doesn’t mean reinventing the wheel every day. You can:
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Repurpose one image in multiple ways (change text placement, filters, headlines).
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Create pins for different aspects of your book (theme, setting, character, related activities).
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Drive traffic to the same blog post or landing page with multiple pin variations.
10. Your Website Is the Hub
Pinterest’s power is in driving traffic off the platform — to your website, newsletter signup, online store, or book retailer link.
Make sure you have:
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A professional website.
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Landing pages for specific offers (like a free educator guide, character quiz, or reading group discussion guide).
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An opt-in to capture email subscribers.
The Bottom Line
Pinterest isn’t just another social media platform to “be on.” It’s a long-term discoverability engine for your books, your brand, and your author business.
If you’re ready to:
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Think like your readers and serve their needs,
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Use SEO strategically,
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And create evergreen, helpful content…
Pinterest could quietly become one of your most powerful marketing tools — bringing new readers to your work long after the launch buzz fades.
Want to learn more about Pinterest for marketing your book?
