I'm not sure if anyone's thought of this, but if you're on Pinterest (a social bookmarking website where you can have followers that see what you pin, you're pretty much sharing your favorite things by pinning them, as well as simply saving them so you can remember them yourself. You can in turn follow other people that are pinning things that are interesting to you, and find things you like that way.
This could be used to our advantage...) and you've read (or want to read) a fellow HWers' book, you could pin it, saying how interesting it sounds and maybe having some of the description on the "back cover" to go with the pin. Then anyone browsing the homepage might see it and repin it themselves, so that their 10,000,000, followers (ok, maybe not that many, but you get the idea) will also see it, and repin it if they like it, and so on.

To get an idea of what a pin like that would look like, here's the one I did so far: http://pinterest.com/pin/122441683589239612/

One word of warning about Pinterest: people do pin inappropriate stuff on there, so I recommend that you don't follow other people's boards unless they are labeled specifically something you're interested in, for example, someone like myself likes photos, but I need to watch for boards labeled "wildlife photos" etc.

Lastly, if you're not on Pinterest, but you want to join, I or someone else on HW that's on there can invite you.

Brilliant! I mostly use it for pictures I don't feel like downloading but this is a really great idea.

Thanks! I got the idea when I pinned something and like within 20 minutes two other people saw it and repinned it, and I was like Hmm, this could be pretty powerful.

*grins widely at Wolf's pin*

I think this is a fantastic idea. I've only used Pinterest a little so far, to save inspiration and pretty pictures, but it's amazing how many random people (mostly people who aren't following me!) will repin it. Word can definitely spread, so I think this is a great resource. I've repinned books just because I like the cover art, so you don't necessarily have to create a "Holy Worlds" or "Books I want to read" board, either.

I thought you'd like that one.



Yeah, you're right, you can share it on any board you want...I just happened to want to read it in this case, and made a board for that purpose.

Hey, I'm cool with that.

I thought so.

I would like a pinterest, but, considering the inappropriate things, I think I'm going to hang off on that for a while.

That is understandable, I will say though just as a disclaimer, not to try and convince you otherwise..., if you can figure out how to avoid following anyone, you shouldn't have any more trouble on pinterest than on the internet in general...but I don't want you to go against your conviction so whatever you think you should do.

Pinterest will automatically follow some people when you sign up, but you can unfollow them. You don't need to follow anybody or browse the site if you don't want to. I rarely do - I just pin things I want to save. So, it's up to you.

Yeah, that's what I did and do.

I use Pinterest. A lot. *checks* I have 492 pins and 22 boards.

We have one for the Starsailer universe Yes, this is a plug.

It works too. Pins get seen and repinned fairly frequently.

You do use pinterest a lot. What is the Starsailer universe?

(Yes!)

It's the community universe project I started on HWSF that's kind of a cross between science-fantasy, steampunk, and space opera. It's really cool. Since there's only two people, the Pinterest board's not that big, but it's here.

Starsailer Board

Yeah, pinning books is really a good idea, especially when you get a decent sized following of people.

Oh, as mentioned, don't use the Follow All button, even if you know they won't post inappropiate things. You'll get swamped with boring things like recipes and clothes.

That sounds cool! Yeah I never use the follow all button anymore.

I like the sound of that project... *is tempted to join HWSF* Could I possibly join it if I can find the time?

Yep.

Yes! Yes! Yes! That'd be awesome!

Cool! *goes to join*

Awesome!

Finally made it through the capcha...

No kidding.

Varon, that is awesome! *follows* Yay for dragging Wolf into it!

(And yes, I deserve a severe scolding for falling behind on said universe. )

Yes, it is. Good publicity as well.

(I can't scold the co-leader. Bad for morale)

*is only really following HWers*

I searched Red Rain the other day and all I got was pictures of umbrellas and rubber boots. We should remedy that.

Yes, we definitely should! Repin it, repin it!!!

*huge grin* I've got illustrations and stuff posted on FB you might be able to pin. (I mean, I'm totally cool with them being pinned - I'm just not sure if FB is set up to let you pin photos off of it. Probably, since it's a public page.)

(Actually, you can, Varon, because leaders must be held accountable. Besides, this leader likes being pestered when she falls behind, because otherwise she forgets. )

That's a great idea...I think it would work but don't have time to try it now, I will hopefully remember to try tomorrow or someday soon.

Pinterest can't pin off of Facebook.

(You've been busy)

Aw, that's too bad...I can probably save your images onto my ipod and then pin them from there...

I could post them elsewhere, also... but I shall stop derailing the topic. Still, if you want to promote an author, and they've got other art, you can pin that, too. Or fan art by other people 'n things. Or if there's a review that has an image on it... etc.

(I'm always busy, so that's not always an excuse. )

That sounds good.

I never thought of you as derailing the topic...but maybe that's due to my ignorance. Anyway, you've been un-derailing it too, so it works out.
*acting as if nothing has happened*
Those are good points/ideas, thanks for sharing them here!

Despite being teased that pinterest is for girls, I have found a few neat ways to use it. I have "Favorite Fantasy" where I post my favorite books in that genre, which helps advertise other people's books. I have places I've taken pictures of, an adaptation from my Photo Writer Alliance idea. I recently started a giveaway wall where I pinned the picture of the book I'm giving away this week with a link to my website post that I'm giving it through.

Personally, I see a lot of noise on pinterest, so I don't know how effective it is. It seems a lot easier to follow all when someone has a hundred different walls. I went through Donita Paul (YA Fantasy author) and it felt like forever scrolling through all of hers to choose what I wanted to follow.

Yeah, it looks like you've found some useful ways to use it.

I agree, there is a lot of stuff on pinterest that can make you wonder if it's really doing anything, but I think that it can help a bit, especially if you get some readers to follow your "books worth reading" (or equivalent) board and then you post HWers' books there.

Yeah, it can take a long time to sort through a dedicated pinner's boards, I think I usually just make sure I don't follow any boards that might have immodesty on them (some people have different views on what is immodest), and then if I notice that one of their boards is boring and/or flooding my feed (for Donita Paul it was elephants something or other) and I just finally go and unfollow that particular board.