If you are looking to acquire an endorsement for your book from prolific authors such as Stephen King, James Patterson, or E.L. James, you can cease your efforts immediately, for that fantasy will never come true. The mandatory requirements that must be met in order to simply place your book before a celebrity are so astronomically vast to the average author, but to those who are wealthy, inviting Stephenie Meyer over for dinner isn’t an issue.
It is smart of any self-published or traditionally published author to attempt to contact noble names in the publishing industry, but to receive a response in return from the best of the best is almost impossible. Instead of reaching so high, authors should minimize their aspirations and think more locally when trying to gather testimonials for their publication.
For the first time ever in my career as a self-published author, I was given the opportunity to endorse another author’s book, one which is currently being composed in the United Kingdom titled, “Deadstock: The Story of a Wall Street Trader” (www.fhpublishing.wix.com/deadstock), and express my success through that of another published piece of literature.
The two co-authors, Antony Hammond and Tom Robertson, now have my permission to reproduce the endorsement and publish it on the back cover of their book. The endorsement process in general is quite similar to that of my own experience, for all you need to do is find a moderately renowned author’s email address, write them an email asking for their review of your book and if they agree, you will then be able to mail them a copy of your publication or digitally forward your manuscript to their email inbox.
Once the author has found time to read through your book, they will compose either a one paragraph or page long written endorsement for you to use towards the promotion of your title. Please note though that it is recommended that you have the author officially state the details of their endorsement in writing, just so that you can store it in your records for future reference.
If you do manage to get endorsed by another author, hopefully you feel more relaxed about the process, for now is when you should exercise your goal of gathering multiple endorsements from multiple writers. Gathering more than one endorsement will greatly contribute to the credibility of your book, especially if the endorsements in which you receive are from established authors and not from amateurs.
If a reader opens your book and the first thing they read are other author’s reviews of your work, they will be more than likely to take further interest in what you have written and purchase a copy of your publication. I remember when I was browsing through the “New Releases” section on Amazon and I saw a book written by some unknown author who had generated enough sales to be considered as an Amazon Bestseller. How did he do this? Yes, the author probably wrote some groundbreaking material, but what really caught my eye was when I opened it and skimmed through the first few pages and witnessed an endorsement from Dan Brown stating how magnificent the book was. Coincidence? I think not.
Any author can pay to have their publication advertised on television or discussed in newspapers, but nothing will change the game like a celebrity endorsement. Most people believe that gaining attention from other authors costs thousands of dollars, when really all it takes is hard work and countless hours of dedication. Money isn’t always needed for a book to succeed, for if you make the right calls, write the right emails and invest your time wisely, you shouldn’t have any difficultly making it big. For example, Stephen King lived poorly for many years of his early life with barely any money, but by never giving up his dream of becoming a renowned author, he gained notoriety from all over the world.
Article is Copr. © 2013 by Aaron Ozee and originally published on PublishersNewswire.com (a publication of Neotrope) – all commercial and reprint rights reserved. Reproduction or republication in whole or in part without express permission is prohibited except under fair use provisions of international copyright law. Article cover illustration is Copr. © 2013 Christopher Simmons (derivative work based on “thumbs up” clip art sourced via Microsoft Office ClipArt).
