I am not a big fan of social media. Mostly because I'm not a big fan of being social. Hell, my cell phone is always turned off. Nothing against people, I love people, I'm just an introvert who doesn't like to draw attention to herself so she can do what she wants when she wants to. Yet I chose a life path where I have to draw said attention to myself to pay the bills. So with pushes from both my patron and agent I was forced to engage in social media. I have a Facebook, Twitter, Goodreads, and Pinterest page. That last one I had to be dragged into kicking a screaming. "It's a useful tool for selling books," said my agent. She's regretting being a Pinterest pusher right about now. That site is like crack. Once you start you cannot stop until you've seen all the pics in a category. I mostly frequent the "Geek" and "Humor" sections. I look down at my Kindle Fire, and the next time I look up an hour has passed. And you can't just check it once a day, oh no. New content is uploaded ALL THE TIME. And it's all so good. So funny.
I don't know if I've sold any more books because of my pinning, but I have learned quite a few things in the past month about my fellow mostly female and teenage humans:
* Forget Channing Tatum and Justin Bieber, scrawny pale British dudes are what all the teenage girls are dreaming about. Forget Robert Pattison even, no it's all about Matt Smith (Doctor Who), Tom Hiddleston (Loki) and Benedict Cumberbatch (Sherlock). Every damn picture in the Geek category features one of these men. They are the new pin-ups (literally) to American girls. I get it, I'm a Cumberbitch, but I've always been into this type of man. I just got shit for it. No Justin Timberlake for me, it was all about Ralph Fiennes in high school. And I was a weirdo for it. Seems I was just born ten years too early.
* People are really snarky. Once again, I am guilty of this too. (No duh readers, right?) But people are thinking and saying the same things I am too like "You are one smart-ass remark from us being featured on Deadly Women." Those words have passed (jokingly of course) from my lips and there it was on an e-card. Snark is in.
* There is a lot of creativity in the world. Not only do fans draw or Photoshop pictures of their geek favorites but some of the clothing combinations and bakery items are just downright interesting and beautiful. There are even mash-ups of fandom like combining Hunger Games with Harry Potter in really interesting ways.
* Feminism isn't dead, it's just on Pinterest. There are more hate pins of Twilight than for it, mostly focused on how Bella compares to other vampire fighting characters. For every one pin about how wonderful getting married and having babies is there are three about it being okay to be single and if married, not putting up with an immature husband. Took the words right out of my mouth.
So basically I was shocked that there were so many people out there just like me. I have found my tribe and they are awesome. I just wish they'd stop telling me to Keep Calm.
What about all of you? Are you smoking the Pinterest crack? What do you enjoy looking up on it? Has anyone actually used it as a business tool, or like me do you just use it to stare at cute British boys?
And I keep forgetting. You can pre-order What's a Witch to Do? the first Midnight Magic book in a three part series. Here's the cover:
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