Author Tools & Resources, Social Media

How to Design Viral Infographics & Promo Materials

I’m a visual person (hello, Pinterest!), so infographics and charts always grab my attention. They can be a great way to display content to your readers about your book, your self, or a theme from your book. This can be especially effective for non-fiction books, but there’s plenty of room to get creative with fiction too.

Stephen King Quote

They also make great content for blog posts, promo materials and as something to share on social media. But how do you make them if you’ve got no graphic design skills – and unfortunately no money to hire a designer to help you out?

I use two fantastic tools that I think you’d like to know about… and they’re free!

1. Piktochart – In a nutshell, you can use pre-designed templates to put together really smart-looking graphics in under 10 minutes!

2. Share As Image – Share As Image allows you to highlight text anywhere online – including from your blogposts or book – and turn into an image. Once you’ve created an image, you can then easily share it on Facebook, Twitter, Google +, Twitter, Pinterest, your website and more.

Here are a couple of examples:

A piktochart:

An image made with Shareasimage:

Shareasimage

Action steps >>> 

1. You can try both tools for free, and if you like them both offer a paid upgrade with more options and customization. Check them out now and bookmark them for when you need to create something visual…

> Piktochart: http://piktochart.com
> Share as Image: http://shareasimage.com

2. Share on social media, and be sure to add your website as the quote source – you’ll raise awareness about your book and message, and send people to your site, too. If you haven’t already, create a Pinterest account (or you can sign in with Facebook). It’s the best place to share visuals and gain traction. (And come say hi to me on Pinterest here!)

Why not leave your Pinterest profile URL in the comments so we can come see what you’re sharing over there? :)