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Welcome to The Book Marketing Action Podcast with Becky Robinson! In this episode, Becky Robinson and Christy Kirk give you practical tips and action steps to finding the right endorsements for your book that you can be proud of.
While endorsements are important, they are not the most important element of your book. Authors spend a lot of time and stress over finding the perfect endorsements. We hope this episode will alleviate some of the stress you may be experiencing as an author!
Endorsements add social proof and value to your book, but they typically won’t sell your book. If you’re an author beginning to think about endorsements for your book, here are some practical tips based on questions authors frequently ask.
What’s the danger of having only big-name authors on your wishlist? As you’re creating your dream wishlist, be practical about who you want to endorse your book. If they are all famous, big-name people, they are probably inundated by the number of requests to write endorsements. We encourage you to include those big-name authors, but also create a safety list that includes people with whom you already have great relationships. It’s important to know you have definite endorsements as well as some high-in-the-sky endorsements.
Should your wishlist be diverse? YES! You want your book to serve everyone, not just your particular demographic. When creating your wishlist, include people who think, act, look, and exist in different stages of life and industries than you. It’s important to be mindful of diversity and really make a conscious effort to have your book endorsements be representative.
What is the best way to get connected with big-name authors? The easiest way is through a publisher. If you have the same publishers as a big-name author, your publisher can make those connections and sometimes leverage their relationship. Another way can be looking through your network and seeing if any of your connections are connected to a big-name author.
What is the best way to ask the people on your safety list to give you an endorsement? If you know them and they’re already supporters of your work, write them a personal message when you ask. Don’t use a mass email. Make sure it’s personal—it could even be a phone call. When asking, it’s important to explain why their endorsement is important and include some sample endorsement content, because everyone is time-crunched and it makes it easier on whomever you are asking.
When should you start seeking endorsements? You might think your book has to be completely finished and edited to start seeking endorsements; however, it’s always better to have more time on your side. You can start reaching out for endorsements before your book is even complete, when you may only have a sample of your book.
How many endorsements do you need? Quality over quantity. Having a smaller number of powerful endorsements from diverse people, individual names we recognize, and company names we recognize is more powerful than 20 and 30 endorsements that have no weight behind them.
Today’s action steps:
- Take a few minutes and make a list of people you’d like to contact about an endorsement. You can do this no matter what stage of writing your book you are in.
- Take an hour or two and write a list of ten sample endorsements. Use rich language that is powerful—if you could write your own endorsement, what would you like people to say about your book? Once you have those samples, you can send these out in your request emails.
In today’s episode, Becky mentions Download here., a free ebook for getting people to endorse your book. Learn how to seek endorsements with our step by step guide, including a template for making the ask, and advice about how to best approach your dream endorsers.
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I am the founder/CEO of the Weaving Influence team, the author of Reach: Creating the Biggest Possible Audience for Your Message, Book, or Cause, and the host of the Book Marketing Action Podcast. I’m a wife and mom of three kids, and I enjoy running, reading, writing, coffee, and dark chocolate.