I keep saying I'll install Gimp and LEARN HOW TO USE IT this year. Heh. Anyhow, I finally did download it. Still looking to learn how to use it and suggestions for resources are quite welcome, but I thought this turned out pretty for first noodling around with photos.
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"(On the writing F&SF workshop) Wanted to crow and say thanks: the first story I wrote after taking your class was my very first sale. Coincidence? nah….thanks so much."
So what is Pinterest?
Pinterest describes itself as a virtual pinboard. You can think of it as a way to save links and organize them by image or you can think of it as a way to save and organize images. I like it because people often put together collections that are beautiful, disturbing, evocative, or worth reading.
It’s also interesting because it’s become identified as a woman-centric social network – or at least that’s something the media has focused on, to the point where a male friend stated definitively and somewhat defiantly, “I don’t know a single man who uses Pinterest, but every woman I know does.” (Reported figures seem to actually put women at 60-82% of the users). Women adopt new social media more readily than men, which may account for some of it, but the odd tone that some of the reporting takes on makes it a phenomenon worth taking a look at.
And it’s interesting because it’s growing FAST to the point where it’s the number 3 social network.
How can writers use Pinterest?
Well, an obvious one is a board that features their book covers. For example, Stephen Hunt’s Books Worth Reading (by me) displays 24 covers, including foreign language editions. It’s a nifty way of showing one’s output.
You might choose to create a gallery of fan art as both a way of gracefully acknowledging fans while driving recognition of the stories they illustrate.
Pinning research is an obvious thing. M.K. Hobson’s pinned reference images for her book, The Warlock’s Curse, and there’s plenty of interesting stuff to look at there.
Using it isn’t difficult, not is incorporating it into your website. There are plenty of WordPress plug-ins for Pinterest already; I use one to provide additional visual interest to my website.
Why might you want to avoid Pinterest?
Plenty of questions have arisen about Pinterest and copyright, although the company has been responsive to concerns and revised its terms of service as a result. While some avoid Pinterest for these reasons, some advocate embracing it, as Trey Ratcliff does in his essay, Why Photographers Should Stop Complaining about Copyright and Embrace Pinterest, pointing out that it drives website traffic.
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Love this world and want to spend longer in it? Check out Hearts of Tabat, the latest Tabat novel! Or get sneak peeks, behind the scenes looks, snippets of work in progres, and more via Cat’s Patreon.
#sfwapro
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In this Medium article, Cat Rambo talks about her present to herself for her 60th birthday — a new tattoo.
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5 Responses
Nice! My friend Fred used Gimp to make the covers of his three ebooks. I still think getting a pro to do covers is a good idea for those who can afford it, but Gimp appears pretty versatile. I’ve had it on my laptop for a while but haven’t tried to do anything withit yet. Let us know if you come across a good resource for noobs.
People have been telling me for a long time how wonderful GIMP is and how it can do everything Photoshop can. Maybe it was designed to, but the implementation isn’t there, at least not in the version I have. Quick Mask, for instance, does not exist. There’s a button to turn it on, but the button does nothing. This is true of a number of other features I consider essential. I try to follow tutorials only to discover that what they want me to do cannot be done. Frustrating and disappointing.
I don’t know Photoshop at all — I think the first thing I need to do is get my head around how layers work.
Hi Cat … just read your story in DSF … nicely done!
Thank you! 🙂