Wednesday, September 27, 2017

Writing Wednesday: A Picture is Worth a Thousand Words


As an author, the title of my blog post is not all that encouraging. I use words to paint images, not photos or other visual media. And yet, it's the way our brains are wired. Visual images draw our eyes. Admit it. When you're scrolling through Facebook or Twitter, you're more likely to look at a post with a photo than one without. Thus all the memes.

One image to tell a story. Convey your message. Make someone smile. Spark a conversation.
There once was a big lazy dog...

This might seem like a good segue into the importance of good cover art... but it's not. It's more a commentary on the power of images, and learning to use them to grab attention in the crowded seas of social media. Studies show that more eyes will see and linger on your post if there's an image. Use the same image too often (like your book cover) and the number start to dwindle again.

I mentioned this to an author I was doing a library talk with last summer, and he's since put images in every single one of his Facebook posts. Nice images, but they have little to do with anything related to his books or even the topics he's writing about in his post. For example, a cool shot of the beach 
alongside a pitch about an upcoming book signing. A book not set at the beach.
Does this make you think about attending a book event?

How about this one?

When I was a magazine editor, we knew the article with images got more "time on page" than articles that were text heavy. Reigning in the graphic designer was another story, and we also learned that even if the writer provided the images, we needed to confirm where they'd come from. (those Getty people can be ruthlessly persistent.) If you don't own it, don't use it.
"O" for OWN it.

I wish I were more talented with creating memes - I love the pictures authors post that contain a quote or phrase in addition to their cover, etc. The Hunks anthology had several of those we could choose to tweet and share, created by one of the talented authors in the collection. I've tried to create a few of my own, like my Writing Wednesday graphic or the one below, but they don't seem as eye catching without the hot men. Although, that might not be appropriate for Writing Wednesday - or my YA series!
Anyway, you get my point. Pictures draw the eye. Pictures engage a reader. Pictures with a call to action are more interesting than a plain ol' "buy my book" plea.

How do you incorporate pictures into your social media stream? How do you use them for marketing? What are your favorite websites/tools for creating images? (I use picmonkey. What are some other good ones?)

Happy Writing - and Tweeting - to All!


15 comments:

  1. I use Canva. It's easy and even if you choose images you need to pay for, the prices are so low it's completely worth it.

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    1. I have to check that out. I'm also considering outsourcing to someone more talented than me... even my kids make better memes than I do...

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  2. Great post, Katie. I find photos with quotes from my novels do much better than simply posting buy links or even positive reviews. I'm a picmonkey fan too. ~Daphne Dubois

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    1. Thanks - loved your blog post today too. I wanna be a student at Hogwarts in the worst way!

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  3. Great post. Images convey so much so quickly. That whole "thousand word" thing. :) Just makes sense. I'll remember this for my FB posts. Thanks!

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    1. Thanks for stopping by and adding to the conversation

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  4. I wish I were tech-y enough to do these kinds of images on social media. Alas...

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    1. Susan, check out some of the suggestions listed in the comments. The point of many of theses sites is to make it easy and fun to use... If I can figure out PicMonkey, you should give it a shot!

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  5. Another interesting post, Katie! Creating images has not been a super strong-suit for me. I have used InstaQuote Pro in the past to add text to images...like a book cover. This is an area I know I need to learn more about--for example, what do people use to create those great banners to use as cover photos on Twitter and FB, with all their book covers on them?
    Thanks for always helping to keep us all informed and connected!
    : )

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    1. Hi Donna, I know PicMonkey has a banner size option, and uses a fairly easy drag-n-drop interface. I'm eager to check out some of the other suggestions that have been left here in the comments!

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  6. Thanks, Katie. I'm inspired!
    Judy Meadows

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  7. I'm still working on being savvy with tech. Google analytics - check! Figuring out how to embed a link to a PDF I made in a blog post - check! Pictures - sort of check? :) Working on it. I do think our eyes are immediately drawn to pictures. I tend to use my own pictures - I've traveled a lot so I have lots of scenic photos. Or I take my own and tweak it. Two sites I like are BeFunky - create collages (with text). And my FAVE for word bubbles: Wordart.com. I have samples from both on my website if anyone wants to see a word bubble or befunky collage. (Jeanmgrant.com). Btw, I love your Descent and Defiance covers. I go against the grain - I am not one for the hunky men on covers (gasp, I know! Rumor is they sell more but I am more for imagination and I love setting or something symbolic on the cover). Thanks for this post. :)

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    1. Thanks for the suggestions! Eager to check those out over the weekend!

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  8. Thanks to everybody for ideas and thanks for a good topic Katie.

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