For non-fiction writers, building your recommendations on LinkedIn will help establish your credibility in your field. Even if you are a fiction writer, you may want to build your LinkedIn recommendations for other professional reasons. You never know when they may come in handy if you find yourself job searching in the future. Your resume can refer to your LinkedIn page for references.
It is unlikely that recommendations will pour in without you personally requesting them. Only request recommendations from people you know personally, and avoid requesting recommendations from family members just to boost your numbers.
When posting a recommendation for someone, LinkedIn will send them the recommendation to review/approve. Once they do, it will ask them to also provide a recommendation for you. Add recommendations for a few of your current partners, colleagues and clients and mention to them in person that you would be delighted if they would recommend you as well when they have time. Don’t beg or pressure them. Although you want more recommendations, you don’t want to force someone to recommend you if they aren’t comfortable giving a recommendation for whatever reason.
Keep your recommendations current. When someone requests to connect with you on LinkedIn, send them a quick note thanking them for connecting with you on LinkedIn and ask them to take a moment to recommend you. When they do, recommend them back as a courtesy.
Now back to you. Have you ever recommended any one on LinkedIn or received a recommendation from someone else? Tell me about it.