From Sarah, With Joy

*Poet * Author * Wanderluster*

Monday, June 17, 2013

The Writers Guide to Instagram

From my Instagram account. Find me at SarahAllenAuthor
Hey everyone!

So, Instagram has kind of exploded in the last year or so as like, the awesome new thing. Even if you don't use Instagram, image based platforms (*ahem* Pinterest and Tumblr *ahem*) are the biggest things right now, and what users are becoming used to. Short version, images are the thing on the interwebz.

But our medium of choice, as writers, is text, right? We use words, not images. Hopefully evocative words, but still, words. So how can we use image based platforms like Instagram to our advantage? For networking, marketing, inspiring, all that kind of stuff. Here are a few cool writerly things I've seen people do on Instagram.

1. Notecard Poetry: One thing I've seen people do is to write a very short two or three line poem on a note card, place it against a nice background like a wood table, take a picture and upload it to Instagram. Personally I like this better than people using the comments section for their work, because I honestly don't really read that part.

2. Overlayed Quotes: There are a lot of cool designy quotes about writing on Instagram. What I've done is find/create them on my computer, put them on my Pinterest board, then download them from Pinterest to my phone, then upload them to Instagram. Since Instagram isn't a computer/tablet app yet. It works, and its probably the thing I've had the most success with so far.

3. Am Working Images: Take a picture of your work space or a screenshot of a small piece of your work in progress and put those on Instagram. It's a fun camaraderie thing, and I know I always like real life shots of how other writers are working.

4. Covers: Take pictures of the books you're reading, or, of course, upload an image of the cover of your book. Another way to get the picture of your book in peoples heads.

5. Other artsy projects: And of course, if you are artistically inclined in any way, by all means share your work. Your pictures, your illustrations in progress, your comic strips, all that good stuff.

So those are some things you can put on Instagram, but other than that, what do you actually do on Instagram to be involved in the Instagram community.

*Like and comment other peoples stuff
*Hashtags are super big on Instagram, so make sure you're using all the right ones to get your work noticed.
*Browse hashtags to find cool people to like/comment/follow

Those are my Instagram tips, from my limited experience. Even if you don't use Instagram, hopefully some of these tips can also be applied to those other image based platforms.

Are you an Instagramer? What types of images do you find most intriguing on places like Instagram, Pinterest, or Tumblr?

Sarah Allen

4 comments:

  1. That all sounds really cool. I probably won't do anything with that info until everyone's off onto the next big thing, and then I'll think Instagram is brilliant :-)

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  2. No! Please, no. Not something else I have to learn how to use. I can't do it! I can't, I tell you!

    *runs screaming into the woods*

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  3. Awesome post. I think it's important to know every venue available and catch them in their prime. I just recently started using Instagram to showcase my writing, awesome platform, wonderful community. Loved this post. Thank you.

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  4. I found your post at the perfect time to hopefully help me drive traffic to my short story blog. Thank you! :-)

    ReplyDelete

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