So what do you do with a LinkedIn account?

[Feo Takahari]

I recently found an old LinkedIn account I made under my pen name several years ago. I assume there must be some use to this for marketing your stories or yourself, but I'm not sure how that would work for an author. Does anyone else use LinkedIn?

 

[Devor]

My wife uses LinkedIn and recently got a call from a headhunter because of her profile. But for or an author I don't think it's a great marketing tool. It might have some use in connecting with those on the business end. For instance, if you were to get a publishing contract, LinkedIn might be one way to learn more about and connect with some of the people who work at the publishing house.

 

[Trick]

My wife uses LinkedIn and recently got a call from a headhunter because of her profile. But for or an author I don't think it's a great marketing tool. It might have some use in connecting with those on the business end. For instance, if you were to get a publishing contract, LinkedIn might be one way to learn more about and connect with some of the people who work at the publishing house.

It's funny, when I was a kid my dad worked for Random House and after I'd been writing a while he put me in touch with a junior editor to get some advice. Her email stuck around in my contacts, eventually ported into my new gmail account. Then, when I uploaded my contacts to linkedin, her linkedin showed up along with several other Random House folks. I doubt she remembers me but I thought it was cool that I can contact them someday, when I think I'm ready.

 

[Devor]

One of the tricks people talk about for finding blog content involves getting a pro account on linkedin, contacting experts in a field for 15 minute interviews, and publishing those interviews. I don't know if it's the best place to reach authors, but it would be cool to get a hold of editors that way.

 

[willsonjohn90]

You can use Linkedin to connect people having interest in reading or related to that field. It can be used for marketing to some extent but not much. Linkedin is very useful for people who want to hire or get hired or make some business connections.

 

[Mark]

I think Linkedin is most useful if you write, or plan to write, nonfiction. I'm not really sure what use it has if you write fiction.

 

[ThinkerX]

I have a LinkedIn account. On occasion it lets me know of potential job prospects, including those in writing.

However, I have so many login issues the account is effectively useless beyond that.

 

[Richard P Titus]

You might consider networking through Twitter rather than LinkedIn. My impression is the latter is more for networking between people in "business." Twitters seems more conducive to networking between those in book publishing, book promotion, and the writers and artists who create books. At least, that's my impression.

On another note, I promoted my book on Facebook and Twitter, and Twitter by far showed a better response. I don't know why. Sometimes it's just a matter of trial and error in finding out what works best for your particular book.

And don't forget contacting reviewers. The more reviews you get, the more people will hear about your book.

Good luck.