Did you know that LinkedIn has more than 433 million members? It’s this staggering number that makes LinkedIn a great platform to promote yourself as an author as well as highlight your work.

If you’re unfamiliar with LinkedIn, it’s a social networking site that’s designed for the business community. The main focus of LinkedIn is to allow users the chance to network with people they know professionally. Users are able to share content from others, publish their own content and provide relevant, informative updates.

If you’re new to the platform, we’re here to offer you six reasons why you should create a LinkedIn profile of your own.

Credibility

In this day and age, social media is the axis on which most businesses turn. As an author, it’s almost as if you’re running your own business – the promotion and marketing of your book. Creating a LinkedIn profile can help you position yourself as an established and esteemed author, and can bolster your credibility to those doing their research on you and your work.

Publicity

Given the sheer volume of users to the site, it makes sense as a professional author to create a LinkedIn profile. By doing so, you’re opening yourself up to a lot of promotional opportunities to spread the word about your book.

Reach

To this point, there are active users in more than 200 countries around the world. It’s this immense number that proves the power that LinkedIn has to connect people from all corners of the world who might be interested in your book and its genre. LinkedIn has untapped potential for you to discover. It simply takes effort and the wherewithal to connect with the right people.

Research

While LinkedIn opens you up to a wider audience, it’s also a great tool for doing research of your own. The search functionality on the site gives you the opportunity to look for people with shared interests and other commonalities. This will help you break the ice with future contacts and craft an introductory message that will set you apart from the others in their inbox. Not to mention, there are myriad professional groups on this site that you can join to further immerse yourself in the industry.

Opportunity

There are a plethora of events, contests and other avenues available on LinkedIn that are perfect for an author. Not only will you be able to join in a larger discussion, you’ll also uncover new and innovative ways to promote your book, such as using the “Update” feature on the site to provide relevant news about your work. This update will then appear on the newsfeeds of all of your connections.

Networking

The foundational core of LinkedIn is networking. This social site opens doors and gives you access to hundreds of thousands of authors and potential readers. Find them and connect with them. This tactic opens up a larger conversation that you can be part of, which can help expand your reach to others in your niche.

Check back in the coming weeks, when we’ll offer helpful tips and tactics to maximize your LinkedIn profile.