Using Pinterest To Provide Additional Content For Your Readers

Everyone has their likes and dislikes when it comes to social media. I prefer Twitter – if you can’t say it in 140 characters, don’t say it at all. I pretty much hate Facebook and view it as a necessary evil—the privacy issues and the clunkiness of being forced to have two pages so you can have a hobbled business page pretty much drives me insane. But I LOVE Pinterest. Pinterest is where the pretty is and you can find value there no matter where your interests lie because its users are so diverse and creative.

While I started using Pinterest because I liked looking at beautiful nature pictures, classic architecture, gorgeous doorways, and just generally awesome stuff, I realized that it would be a great platform to add some extra content for our readers.

• Our main characters – Want to see who we used as the physical inspirations for Leigh Abbott and Matt Lowell? Have you always wondered what gun Leigh carries, what kind of sights Matt sees every day at work, or where they both live? It’s all on display in the Leigh Abbott and Matt Lowell boards.

• Our settings – I’ve been fortunate enough to travel to Boston and Salem on a research trip for each book, so I’ve been able to capture the locations where each story occurs—the salt marsh from DEAD, WITHOUT A STONE TO TELL IT, the bridge from the final struggle in NO ONE SEES ME ‘TIL I FALL, and the Salem Witch shop in A FLAME IN THE WIND OF DEATH.

• Our books – Each book is summed up pictorially on its own board, from the book cover as soon as it’s revealed, to relevant clues and locations. Curious about what the crypts under the Old North Church in Boston look like? There are pictures from my tour on the DEAD, WITHOUT A STONE TO TELL IT board. The board for NO ONE SEES ME 'TIL I FALL highlights some of the smaller Massachusetts towns that are a part of the story. Or if you want to get a hint about the upcoming adventures of Matt and Leigh in A FLAME IN THE WIND OF DEATH, it’s all there on FLAME’s board.

I’ve also recently added material for the fourth book in the Abbott and Lowell Forensic Mysteries – TWO PARTS BLOODY MURDER. That board contains the site of the cold case that sets the whole story in motion, a look back at life during Prohibition, and the site of the final climactic confrontation atop High Rock Tower. So if you’re curious about Matt and Leigh’s newest case, stop by to take a look!

How do you guys feel about extra content of this kind? Does it complement the reading experience for you or does it interfere with your own mental imagining of a fictional world?