We recently had the chance to host Jennifer Chenoweth, founder of The LinkedIn Gal at one of our workshops and let’s just say she blew our MINDS!

If you know us you know we have a love/hate relationship with social media.

While we love it for its ability to keep us connected and share pictures of our adorable kids and pets, we’ve found it to be very hit-or-miss when it comes to promoting and selling books.

Don’t get us wrong. There are lots of authors who are killing it on Facebook and Instagram and even Twitter.

But we’ve found that those authors are few and far between.

Usually their success is a combination of luck, ad dollars, and a social media manager whose full-time job it is to create content for them.

That just seems like a lot of work and a lot of money to us. Not to mention the time it takes away from what we really love to be doing—writing books.

If you’ve read our book, The Evergreen Author: Master the Art of Book Marketing you know that part of what separates a one-and-done author from an author with a sustainable career is the ability to step back and get unemotional about the marketing process.

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This means becoming a data scientist every now and then and seeing what is actually bringing people to your book, your website, and your business.

Not what you think will sell books.

Not what you wish would sell books.

Not what other authors are doing to sell books.

What is actually working for you.

As lifelong educators, we feel pretty strongly about practicing what we preach.

So, you can bet that for the past couple of years we’ve been diligently watching for what is bringing authors like YOU to our site.

Here’s what we’ve learned works best for our own marketing strategy based on looking through our data:

1) Pinterest. Pinterest all day every day! Pinterest has been a steady source of traffic for us at Evergreen Authors, and for our personal author websites.

LEARN MORE: 5 Practical Ways to Promote Your Book on Pinterest

2) LinkedIn. That’s right. The social-ish media platform where people post their resumes, job openings, and ideas around business. LinkedIn has been an incredible way to draw people to our website and the book marketing services we provide.

To be honest, we were surprised by this data point.

All we hear about from authors is around Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, etc.

Perhaps it’s because so many authors (ourselves included) subconsciously see our creative work as something separate from our “professional” work.

But this is ALL the more reason to be diligent about letting data support your book marketing decisions!

When we realized LinkedIn was one of the best ways authors were finding us, we reached out to LinkedIn expert Jennifer Chenoweth.

We hoped she could host a workshop teaching authors how to use LinkedIn to sell their books and more importantly—establish and grow their platforms.

She did NOT disappoint. Jennifer hosted an incredible workshop for us, and all the authors who were there said it was a virtual GOLDMINE of knowledge on how to leverage LinkedIn to grow a thriving business.

P.S. We got such INCREDIBLE feedback from everyone who attended Jennifer’s LinkedIn Workshop for Authors, that she created an amazing online course just for authors to help promote their book on the platform.

7 Smarter Strategies to Promote Your Book on LinkedIn as an Author

Here are seven things Jennifer taught us at the workshop about how to get the most out of LinkedIn as an author:

LinkedIn is an incredible place for non-fiction authors. You are “demonstrating trust and expertise” on that platform, so if you are teaching a skill in your book, LinkedIn is a great place to showcase your authority on the subject.
Your LinkedIn profile is your first impression with your audience. This is not a place to be humble or to make it difficult to figure out what makes you an expert in your field. Make it easy to see what you’re all about with seconds of clicking on your profile!
Your LinkedIn profile includes a header. Use this as a place to put in keywords that will lead your ideal audience to you. Don’t stress about sounding super polished or perfect. Be yourself.
LinkedIn is social—be social! The nice thing about LinkedIn is that you are connected to people in your business world, not just your personal world. That means that you can comment on their posts, endorse their skills, and find people you are hoping to create a long-lasting relationship with.
LinkedIn is highly connected to Google Search. The more you interact on the platform, the more visible your profile will be. This is great news for authors hoping to get noticed by local media.
LinkedIn is a great place to post about your creative process. You aren’t limited to links to your book or blog. Share articles that speak to you and your work, and give people a sense of what makes you tick.
LinkedIn Groups make searching for speaking events and partnerships so much easier. This is true on other social media platforms as well, but LinkedIn is head and shoulders above the rest when it comes to finding specific groups of professionals. You can search for professional groups, alumni associations, author groups, publishers… the list is endless!

Our biggest takeaway from our time with The LinkedIn Gal is this:

All the ways you can use LinkedIn to sell books and grow your audience organically are completely FREE.

Sure, there are ways to boost your posts and advertise eventually, but there’s no need to start there. (This is just not the case with Facebook anymore, if you want anyone to see your posts, you have to pay-to-play!)

We cannot recommend Jennifer Chenoweth of The LinkedIn Gal highly enough. If you really want to learn how to use LinkedIn to maximize your author platform and build your business, we highly recommend taking the course she created just for authors: