How to Promote a Book on Pinterest: A 30-Day Plan for Authors
Get your book in front of readers on Pinterest: author business account, boards named like searches, six pin angles per book, a book page and a 30-day plan.
Readers don’t browse online bookshops, they search. Pinterest is one of the places they do it: “cozy mystery series to binge”, “books like [a trope they love]”, “puzzle book for my dad”. A pin that matches that search and points at your book can keep being found for months.
Most authors try Pinterest once, pin the cover, see nothing happen and give up. This guide is the method that works instead, step by step. It’s also in our free Book Pinterest Launch Kit as a 12-page PDF.
1. Set up an author business account
A business account is free and gives you analytics and the bulk import. Name it your author name plus a descriptor (“Jane Harlow · Cozy Mystery Author”), use your photo or a logo rather than a single cover, add your own website and claim it.
Your bio has 160 characters. Use this formula: [Genre] author. [What readers get] for [who]. Free first chapters below.
2. Create ten boards named like searches
Boards are the shelves your pins live on. Name them with the words readers type:
- Books by [Your Name]
- [Genre] Books to Read
- [Subgenre] Book Recommendations
- Books With [Trope or Theme] (never another author’s name)
- [Genre] Book Aesthetic
- Book Series to Binge
- [Season] Reading List
- Gift Ideas for [Readers]
- Reading Quotes
- [Topic] Tips (for non-fiction)
Give each board a two-sentence description with the search phrase first.
3. Write pins people find
- Title (up to 100 characters): the search phrase first. “Cozy Mystery Books: The Lantern House.”
- Description (up to 500): one sentence of hook, one of who it’s for, one call to action.
- Text on the image: six to eight words a phone can read at a glance.
- Link: your own book page, with a different tag on each pin.
And three rules that protect you: no invented reviews or “bestseller” badges, no other authors’ names or trademarks, and only promise what the book delivers.
4. Turn one book into six angles
One book gives you at least six different pins:
| Angle | Example |
|---|---|
| Cover spotlight | The Lantern House: a cozy mystery |
| Reader match | For readers who love small-town secrets |
| What to read next | What to read after your favourite cozy series |
| Story hook | Every house on Mill Lane keeps one secret |
| First chapter | Read the first chapter tonight |
| Gift or season | A gift for the mystery lover in your family |
Six angles with five different images each is thirty pins. At three a day, that’s ten days without repeating yourself. For puzzle books, workbooks and journals, use “problem → practical help” and “a sample page” instead of the story hook and first chapter.
5. Make artwork that respects your cover
Use the tall 1000 × 1500 format, place your cover intact on a different background for each angle (a reading nook, a rainy window, a kitchen table), and keep the text large. Rotate a few looks: clean editorial, cozy lifestyle, bold graphic, cinematic, bright illustrated. Never stretch the cover or add fake award seals.
6. Point every pin at a page you own
Your book page needs the cover and a one-line hook above the fold, who it’s for, a short blurb, buy buttons for every store, a free sample for an email, and your series list. Then you can count visits per pin, store clicks and signups, instead of guessing.
7. Post at a safe pace
Three to five fresh pins a day. A different image and a different tagged link on every pin. Schedule a week at a time with Pinterest’s own scheduler or the bulk import, never with tools that log in as you. Spread books and angles across the week.
Your 30-day plan
- Week 1: business account, bio, claimed site, ten boards, book page with a free sample.
- Week 2: five images for three angles, titles and descriptions, three pins a day.
- Week 3: the other three angles, keep three a day, add a second book.
- Week 4: check impressions, saves and outbound clicks; make more pins like your top three; plan next month’s season.
Write down every Monday: pins published, impressions, saves, outbound clicks, page visits, store clicks, signups, and your KDP orders and pages read.
Doing it faster
The method above takes an evening to set up and twenty to forty minutes a day to keep going. BookBloom is a new tool that does the building: paste your book’s Amazon link and it plans 90 pins with these kinds of angles, makes the artwork around your real cover on your own AI key, writes the words, builds a book page and exports the month as one CSV for Pinterest’s bulk import. You still publish from your own account. It opens November 13 at $17 one-time; our BookBloom review covers the price, upgrades and limits.
Questions
Does Pinterest work for selling books?
It can send readers to your book for months, because people search Pinterest for what to read next, gift ideas and reading lists. It is slow, so expect weeks before pins are picked up and a few months of steady posting before clicks are regular. A click is not a sale.
How many pins should an author post a day?
Three to five fresh pins a day, every day, is a pace most authors can keep and Pinterest rewards. A big batch once a week, or the same image over and over, works much worse.
Should my pins link to Amazon or to my own page?
To your own book page, with store buttons on it. You keep the visit, you can count it, and readers who aren't ready to buy can join your list for a free chapter.