You know it is good practice to get testimonials/endorsements from others in your field or genre to publish on your book cover or inside your book. You probably continue to solicit expert and reader reviews and comments to post at your website. But have you thought about the exposure you get when you endorse or comment on someone else’s book?
Once your book is published, offer to endorse other books on your topic or in your genre. I’ve written testimonials that have appeared on the covers of books on California history, spiritually, cooking and writing/publishing as well as a few novels. What does giving endorsements or testimonials do for your book? It provides additional exposure to your audience and helps to position you as an expert in your field.
Most of the time, I am approached to write the testimonial. But you can also offer to do them. It’s a little tricky to locate authors of books in the works because they don’t usually promote their books until they are published. If you stay abreast of what’s going on in your field/genre, however, you’ll begin to hear about pending books, read about them in blogs and find out about them through diligent visits to appropriate websites.
But, you don’t have to wait for a new book opportunity. We’re in the digital age, after all, and books are being revised and reprinted quite often these days. So if you offer testimonials for books by experts, your words could end up on the cover of their revision or a new book on the subject. At the very least, your testimonial will go on the author’s book page on his or her website.
Simply read the book, create a smashingly complimentary and articulate testimonial, give your name, the title of your book and your website address and then send it to the author to do with as he wishes. You might even suggest that the he post your comments on his blog, in his next newsletter, etc. Most authors have testimonials pages at their websites.
Maybe you feel a bit awkward about writing a testimonial—you just don’t know what to say. No problem. Simply find out what others are saying about the book you are “reviewing.” Look at the book page or testimonials pages at the author’s website. Read the customer reviews and comments at his page on Amazon. Do a Google search to locate reviews of this book elsewhere. Try to be clever, but not so clever that your words have little meaning. Be flattering. Be succinct. And be honest. Honestly, if you think the book stinks, don’t bother to affiliate yourself with it.
Speaking of Amazon.com, be sure to post your comments on these authors’ Amazon book pages for even greater exposure.
To discover additional ideas for getting exposure for your book, read my book, The Right Way to Write, Publish and Sell Your Book. http://www.matilijapress.com/rightway.html
We have room for a few more students in our summer course sessions. Sign up for one of my six courses this month at a discount. (See the May 24, 2010 entry for details.)