Pick up any bestselling book and frequently the first few pages will be glowing words which are called endorsements or blurbs. The process of gathering these endorsements is not something your editor or agent or publicist handle. Like a quality manuscript or book proposal, the author does the work to collect these elements. When I was gathering endorsements for a forthcoming how-to book, I looked at a number of these types of books on my bookshelf. I discovered only a few of them have endorsements. Why?
In some book proposals, the author gives a realistic list of people that could endorse the book. In other cases, the author has collected these endorsements or blurbs and included them in the proposal. If you take the additional effort to include endorsements from well-known people in your proposal, then your submission will be different from the others and help you standout in a positive way.
During lunch with one of my authors, he asked me about how to get the endorsements and foreword for his forthcoming book. We discussed some possible names and relationships that this author has established. One of the keys in this process is to simply ask the people for their help. Also, how you ask is critical. When you ask, I recommend you position your question in the easiest possible way for that person to say yes. For example, with an endorsement or foreword for a book, the people who are most often approached are very busy people. How can you make your request in an easy way for that person to say yes?
One of the best articles I recommend to writers in this area is from Jacqueline Marcell called The Elder Rage Success Saga. Unpublished, Marcell collected 57 rejections with this book manuscript. She decided the only way publishers would seriously consider her topic was to gather numerous celebrity endorsements before the manuscript was contracted. After nine months of work, she had impressive quotes from celebrities like Hugh Downs, Leeza Gibbons, Dr. John Gray, Mark Victor Hansen, Art Linkletter and many others. As she writes in this article, “Polite persistence turned out to be the key.”
It is critical to think about the potential reader for your book.
What type of endorsement would influence that reader to purchase the book? With this list in hand, can you possibly reach this person and get an endorsement?
As an editor, I’m almost cynically amused when I receive a proposal from an author who suggests endorsements from a well-known figure. These same authors usually say they will appear on Oprah. Every author including me appear on Oprah if I had any way to reach her with my book—and I don’t have that method. Does this help you understand the skepticism from the gatekeeper?
If you haven’t been in publishing, you probably don’t understand these high profile people (the type you want to endorse your book) are regularly asked to write an endorsement. Yet they have several hurdles in accepting such a request–time to read the book and then write something coherent and appropriate about the book. In the process of asking them, I recommend you offer to possibly write them a “draft” endorsement. It will erase the potential hurdle and position you as an understanding person who wants them to say “yes.” I’ve written many drafts of endorsements over the years and sometimes the person will take my exact words and other times they will rewrite them. It adds to the power of your asking if you ask in the right way.
Endorsements are a lot of work.
Few people want to go to this sort of effort for their books, and they wonder if the effort is worth it. I’ve been in publishing long enough to know that some books sell better with endorsements. Book buyers will look at a book in a bookstore or on a conference table and make an instant buying decision. Some times they purchase the book because of the endorsement. Some times the endorsements or the foreword for the book will influence the store buyers (the people who make decisions whether to carry your title in their stores or chain of stores).
Endorsements do sell books and sometimes they can sell a book manuscript to a publisher.
I remember several years ago when I took a phone call from an author in my office. She told me a bit about the slant of her proposed book, then said she could get an endorsement from best-selling author Beth Moore. I let my skepticism show on the phone to this author—who immediately told me that she was a close personal friend of Beth Moore. Immediately I lost my skepticism and encouraged her to send me the proposal so I could consider it for publication. The potential endorsement made it worth my consideration as an acquisitions editor—but note it was a real possibility—not something imagined.
Everyone has to determine at what point to put the energy into endorsements. It might be at the end of the project right before publication—or before you even get a contract.
W. Terry Whalin, a writer and acquisitions editor lives in California. A former magazine editor and former literary agent, Terry is an acquisitions editor at Morgan James Publishing. He has written more than 60 nonfiction books including Jumpstart Your Publishing Dreams and Billy Graham. To help writers catch the attention of editors and agents, Terry wrote his bestselling Book Proposals That $ell, 21 Secrets To Speed Your Success. Get a free copy of his proposal book (follow the link). Check out his free Ebook, Platform Building Ideas for Every Author. His website is located at: www.terrywhalin.com. Connect with Terry on Twitter, Facebook, his blog and LinkedIn.
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