By Jonathan Riley
Being a writer requires the ability to generate a regular flow of work knowing that being in this profession, either as a magazine writer, author or in some other writing field, we must also constantly compete with other creatives.
LinkedIn has helped me meet the challenges, because having followers and establishing a regular readership by creating a LinkedIn newsletter, or constantly engaging with my followers, has enabled me to build credibility.
For new and even established writers, if we can show that we have a strong following and that people regularly view and comment on our written word in the digital age, this will translate into more writing gigs.
My increased credibility because of LinkedIn has enabled me to advertise my written content in magazines and books on LinkedIn, which in turn leads to more viewers reading the content I have written in online publications.
When selling your books, the audience on Linkedin will be more open to professional development and personal development because, from my experience, that is the primary user on that platform.
Still, it does not surprise me that other audiences will exist but mostly, that it is different from what people would look for on the Linkedin platform.
How to set up a LinkedIn Account and Professional Profile
Creating and maintaining a LinkedIn account will cost you nothing; type in LinkedIn and create an account in which you can use your regular email address, and create a password for it.
When creating your account, you will need to fill in your work experience and make your bio, which describes yourself, your skills, and other experiences that would be useful to demonstrate your skills and what you can offer other users.
During this phase, you must understand your target audiences, whom you wish to sell your book to, and what kind of community you want to be a part of and attract.
With LinkedIn, connecting with other professionals can be easier if you buy a premium career plan of $29.99 USD per month, but this is optional when creating and building a community of professionals and others on LinkedIn.
It helps users get better access and increases traffic going toward your LinkedIn page. LinkedIn is a social media platform, so, like Facebook, Twitter, and other social networking sites, they reward people who are actively interacting and communicating with other users.
Posting content regularly and communicating with other people on the platform means there is no real reason writers and authors need to purchase the premium or other linked-in packages.
Once you have created a LinkedIn profile and have an objective in mind when creating your account, you must choose what kind of photo you would like in the top left of your profile page. This is significant because this presents an opportunity to stand out from other users.
Try to think of a time you have bought any product or service or even followed another person online; an image can tell a thousand stories, and a good/effective one can easily get you new followers and potential customers of your written work. You could choose one of three different options.
Option number one is a photograph of a book you have written as your profile photo. It’s something different and will help authors subtly market their books.
Option number two, a black and white photo, stands out from people who traditionally take a photo in color from the comfort of their homes.
The final option is to choose a cartoon version for your profile photo because, again, as the other two photos suggested, this will help you to stand out.
If you don’t have the time, the money, or energy for the effort to create a great photo, then an ordinary professional-looking image will also work.
If you are a writer, take a photo of yourselves in a writing environment, like reading a book or a photo of yourself in your personal libraries.
Another image that goes into your profile creation will be a banner next to the photo image you have selected for your profile. If you have a niche in your writing and books, choose that (say Ancient History) or the topic of your focus, for example, Digital Marketing.
Creating a banner can cost you nothing, as you can use websites like Canva; this enables designers to create banner flags for free by providing free downloadable templates.
Finally, after this process is completed, you can also make a one-minute recording that goes into your profile photo and just say who you are and what you do. For example, “I am a writer and author, and I look forward to connecting with other professionals and people passionate about history.”
Work Experience and Becoming an Influencer
Once you have created a banner, chosen your photo, and written a small description of 150 to 1,000 words depending on your personal preference, it’s time to add to your profile work experiences and educational history. Now, you can start networking with others for free without the premium package.
When writing about your skills and experiences, starting from your first job to the present day is best.
If you worked as a struggling writer and at the same time worked a full-time job as a barista, it makes you look more human and can be easily identifiable to people from different backgrounds.
Also, at this stage, you will have zero connections and followers, so if you have experience working many different jobs, there will be others on LinkedIn with the same work experience with whom you can connect.
LinkedIn algorithms tries to connect people automatically with other professionals with similar work experiences, so if you have different writing gigs or have been published by Amazon and other publishing houses or self-publishing LinkedIn will try to connect you with individuals like you.
When it comes to writing about your experiences, try to keep the description of each experience around 50 to 250 words because people do not typically read in detail about other people’s experiences; this is where you are communicating with others is more beneficial.
When creating the description of each work experience, it will ask for the company you have worked for; this will create an image near the work experience of the company, which is linked with the algorithm, which will use the experience to find other professionals that worked in the same sector.
Once you have completed the work experience, connect with ten people daily.
Once you have reached 500 followers, you will become a LinkedIn influencer, and you will also begin to automatically receive more traffic from LinkedIn due to being identified as an individual who contributes to the LinkedIn community.
At this stage, it’s crucial to maintain consistency in content creation and to talk to your followers. Try to post at least 2 to 3 pieces of content per day, but keep the sales pitches to a bare minimum until you have developed trust with your followers.
Bio: Jonathan Riley is a freelance writer, author, and podcaster who regularly writes for magazines, writes his blog Renaissance Humanism and contributes to Medium. He enjoys doing research, understanding culture, and drinking tea. They are active on LinkedIn should you wish to get in contact with them.
