Follow @BookQuotes_InColor on Instagram
Author: Susan Wiggs
How it Works: Quick Facts
- Every Quote is Hand Curated While Reading: Not one quote was googled. This means that each quote holds special meaning to me in some way, and/or holds wisdom and inpiration that I believe is worth sharing with the world!
- Submit Your Favorite Quotes: If you have a favorite quote please DM me for consideration. Do not submit your own, it must be inspiration you’ve gained from another author.
- Finding Featured Books: Find every book that quotes are pulled from organized by genre in my profile highlights.
- Filter by Author using #bqicauthorname: See all quotes from a featured author by using their custom hashtag. (Top authors: #bqicsusanwiggs, #bqicpatricrothfuss, #bqicdebbiemaccomber, #bqiclevgrossman).
- Follow My Book Reviews on Goodreads: Connect with me on Goodreads to follow my book reviews.
The Origin Story
Like millions of readers around the world I love the feeling of picking up a book, opening it to the first page and basking in that moment when the mind wonders what journey is in store just beyond the turn of a page. I can confidently claim I am a writer, with formal training and experience in journalism and content marketing, but I also know I’m just at the beginning of my literary life. My dream is to elevate my personal and professional status to novelist one day, and although I’ve taken a small step by authoring my first short story A Blotchy Sort of Purple, I still have a long way to go.
In addition to my passion for the written word, I’m also a marketing professional who admittedly has a love-hate relationship with certain aspects of the industry – including social media. The “Struggle is Real” most would say but above all else I’m driven by balance. There are so many aspects of my life that are seemingly contradictory that I’ve learned to accept. I’m a proud Catholic and devoted to my faith, while at the same time love listening to my daily horoscope and often find a connection with my fellow Libras. The reason why I don’t consider any of this hypocrisy is because I’ve been able to expand my self and social awareness which requires healthy levels of openness to contradiction and understanding why opposites exist.
Fueled by Passion, Not an Agenda
So why am I telling you all this? Because based on my professional portfolio in marketing, it’s deeply important to me that I make it clear that I’m leading with passion and love when introducing @BookQuotes_InColor to the world rather than an agenda. One of the negative aspects of social media is the undeniable fact that there are so many false accounts, run by people who do not care about the image they put out into the world and only in the number of followers that appear at the top of their profiles. To me, this directly damages the positive aspects of social media including connecting communities and people in the sharing of creativity and passion. I unequivocally do not want to be associated with this type of agenda.
On the flip side, I know business. I’ve spent my entire career in marketing and am addicted to learning with multiple graduate programs under my belt including an MBA and graduate credentials in leadership and education. This and experience has taught me that every good business model comes from solving a problem for oneself or others first and foremost. Couple that with leveraging where you know your talents lie and that’s every strategist’s dream. That’s where the origin story of my Instagram account @BookQuotes_InColor begins.
The Problem
I Need a Place for All My Book Quotes
As a digital marketer and a savvy consumer I am learning that my biggest pet peeve is a less-than-optimal user experience. Let me also be clear that I do love and appreciate the power of technology as I am of the generation who grew up alongside it. In fact, I consider myself an early adopter in that I specifically remember the day when I received word that “Bookshelf” on Facebook would be shut down permanently. I was so upset because it solved a problem for me – it helped me track all the books I had read and those I wanted to read. But as in book series prequels exist to set up the real story. So although it took some development time, I couldn’t be more thankful that beta version would eventually become the expansive reader community we know and love today: Goodreads.
The Pros and Cons of Goodreads
Even with this powerful social network for authors and book fans, as with anything I realized that it had gaps that weren’t being filled. So I began to calculate my own needs assessment for developing a solution and I learned that for every need Goodreads solved for me, ther was a related gap that I needed to fill:
✅ The technology seamlessly integrates with my kindle and automatically syncs my digital highlights across devices
❌ I can’t find a way to add quotes from hardcopy books!
✅ I can reference all my quotes from one book by looking up the title
❌ But that’s literally the only way to access and organize my quotes, I can’t see all from a single author or find diverse inspiration from a single all quotes feed.
✅ I can select which quotes I want to remain private and which quotes I want to share with the world.
❌ But really how many people even look at them anyways? Even if I want to share the best quote ever its buried on my profile, on a shelf within a book title — why bother?
✅ Yes, it was built by a social media giant and I am connected with fellow book lovers but that’s about it.
❌ Social engagement is actually quite limited. It is great as a review, discovery and record keeping platform, but it ironically lacks deep social interaction. Even the status updates I feel like just disapear into oblivion.
✅ I can share my love for an author or book by writing a review for others to read.
❌ I’m lucky to have the basic html skills to follow the coding rules for formatting my reviews. But it is tedious and no average reader is going to take the time to do that on the fly! I want my reviews and quotes to be visual, beautiful and sharable!
So in the spirit of balance. Although I still appreciate it for fulfilling many needs and am still a dedicated user, I needed a solution to give my favorite authors and quotes a home – Thus @BookQuotes_InColor was born!
The Solution
@BookQuotes_InColor on Instagram
So now you know my motivation and business case the fun part of marketing and creating comes into play! For this part I gladly leverage the positive power of social media – it’s ability to connect people and spread love far beyond a person’s immediate sphere of influence. I am also a firm believer that preparation and planning is crticial to the successful implementation of a vision. My philosophy in life and content is quality over quantity so like every marketer I set certain standards to achieve my goals. Every feature on the @BookQuotes_InColor profile has a distinct purpose which ties back to my mission of spreading the love of reading.
Socializing the Book Community
@BookQuotes_InColor exists to give every reader a way to find and connect with the words, phrases and authors they love. This may be a solve for me, but I also created it to spread the love of reading to the world. I encourage you all to like, share, comment and encourage others to do so too — and not for selfish promotional reasons but because I love to see others spread the love of reading and the art of writing.
Since launching I’ve celebrated a few author recognitions and interactions like my favorite author Susan Wiggs sharing a story I tagged her in and commenting on an in-feed posts I featured her quote on, and Lev Grossman even liked one of my posts. That is one of the beautiful things about social media, it brings our favorite, star authors in reach, which before the digital age was unimaginable!
Promoting Authenticity in Followership
View this post on Instagram
It’s always hard not to get caught up in th excitement of seeing the number of fans steadily rise. I’m not going to deny that giddy feeling I had when my numbers jumped week of launch from 0 to over 200! But I took pause and reminded myself that the volume doesn’t really matter, what does is that my followers find value in my content. This is the foundation of my content marketing philosophy and pretty much everything I value in life: Quality Over Quantity.
This is a passion project that solves a problem for me. I’m not discouraged that my rate of followers-gained has slowed since then and don’t mind the rotating unfollows. I do not plan to ever pay for followers or boost my profile, I simply want to spread my love for the written word and those who create it. Yes I want to extend the reach of every author and quote I feature. But the reach only matters to the extent that it holds meaning to a person.
Bringing Out the Beauty in Every Book
View this post on InstagramEmpress of the Seven Hills (The Empress of Rome, Book 3) by @katequinn5975
Have you ever seen a child’s expression when she graduates from the artistic illustrative world of picture books and picks up her first chapter book? I feel like I remember my sentiment like it was yesterday and it was terrifying. Ironically I was a terrible speller and slow reader growing up, a full page of black and white text was so daunting I didn’t know how I would get through it. Since then I’ve learned that I have a natural skill of editing and I’ve come to love the view of pages and pages of black and white text. But there is something to be said about the beautification we once consumed as children. I wanted to bring that feeling back to books for adults.
This is what motivated me to imagine how I would bring my idea to life. They say “don’t judge a book by its cover” but why not? Book covers are pieces of art in their own rights and those who create them are bringing the spirit of each book to life. There are so many benefits to book covers and in some cases there are so many different versions of them that I almost get torn on which to choose from. They evoke feelings and just like music, bring you back to a certain time. I haven’t read Island of the Blue Dolphins in decades but I can still see that woman standing on the cliff looking out to sea clearly in my mind, the version I remember has since been retired and refreshed. That’s remembering your personal reading history. So @BookQuotes_InColor uses those visuals as the backdrops to the words and phrases they hold. It’s my way of picking up the beauty I see in the world and spreading it!
Returning the Love to Authors and Publishers
As a writer, I personally know how much time, love and care each author puts into their work in hopes that readers will enjoy their stories. The level of dedication required to produce a novel is one of the reasons why I haven’t had the chance yet in my life, and why so many aspiring authors find they let the opportunity pass them by before they had the chance to commit. The same goes for the publishers, they read pitch after pitch and always find new ways of supporting their authors, as an outsider to the industry I thank each and every one of them for sharing their talents with the world.
That’s why it’s so important to me that I highlight each and every one because if their quote made the @BookQuotes_InColor, it means I want them to know they made an impression on my life and that the words they crafted hold meaning for me. This one is a little more tricky in that I’m learning that Instagram really isn’t the primary channel for many authors to communicate with their readers. Some hold profiles that are never used, others don’t have the at all and the same goes for publishers. But there’s always hashtags and the important thing is that I’m giving the intellectual property recognition that each deserves.
And of course I burst with pride when I’m rewarded with a repost by author, publisher or user like John Yunker, author of The Tourist Trail and co-founder of Ashland Creek Press.
Thank You for Reading
I hope you enjoyed learning about my passion project and encourage you to follow @BookQuotes_InColor on Instagram. Thank you for taking the time to read my work and I look forward to connecting with you.
Download and Review My First Short Story: “A Blotchy Sort of Purple”
Jake is your average college kid who finds himself caught in a love spiral with Cassy, a drop-dead-gorgeous sorority girl. When life throws them an unexpected surprise, their relationship becomes more important than ever, but to who exactly? Find out in this short story filled with heart, family and ravaging love that consumes us on all fronts.
