As readers we’ve likely relied on endorsements for own book choices, so we get how important they are.

Endorsements serve as third-party votes of confidence for your book. They lend credibility and reliability to what you’ve written.

So, how do you get them?

In this article I’m going to share five steps that just about anybody can follow to obtain great book endorsements.

Step 1: Finish your manuscript.

You don’t need to send a final set of proofs to your endorsers, but ideally you have a complete manuscript that has been copyedited.

Even if the endorser knows and likes you, they may be reticent to provide a blurb if the manuscript they receive is unfinished or in rough shape.

Step 2: Expand your ideas about who would be a great endorser.

It’s true that you’ll get much better results when soliciting endorsements from people you know.

At this point people despair. “I don’t know any famous people! Am I doomed?”

No, you’re not doomed.

The main purpose of an endorsement is to add credibility to your book. An endorser doesn’t need to be a celebrity or have a big platform to provide credibility. What she does need is expertise or experience.

Think about the three parts of an endorsement:

1. the text of the quote
2. the name of the endorser
3. the information that comes after the name

Key here is the information that comes after the name.

If you’re writing a business book and you can add “CEO” after the name of one of your endorsers, that increases your credibility.

If working on a parenting book and you can add “child psychologist” after your endorser’s name, again this boosts your credibility.

If you’re a novelist and you can write “author of” followed by the title of a novel, that will mean something to some of your prospective readers.

Think about people you know or otherwise have a connection with. Which of them has a title, experience, or expertise you can spotlight after their names? Those are the people to pursue.

With this expanded definition of who would be a good endorser for your book, go ahead and make your list. I’d shoot for at least thirty names.

Photo by Siora Photography on Unsplash

Step 3: Craft your pitch and send it out.

At this point a lot of writers freeze. “OK, I have my list, but what do I actually say to them?”

Following are a couple pitch letters you can adapt for your own purposes:

Hi NAME!

As you’ve seen from my social media posts, TITLE is coming along nicely.

I’m doing another pass right now to polish it up further, but it’s now at the stage where I’m comfortable sending it out for endorsement requests.

And of course, you’re right at the top of my list!

Would you be willing to review it and to consider writing an endorsement that I can include on the cover or endorsements page?

I’ve attached a PDF of the intro and first two chapters to this email, and I can certainly send you the full book once I’ve completed my final pass (I’ll be done by Tuesday night).

Let me know your thoughts,

NAME

Dear NAME,

[Start with some sort of personal connection. Here’s an example: “It’s fun to see what you’ve been up to on Facebook . . . I hope you and your family are . . . I saw your note that you’ve been very busy with . . .”]

As you know, my book is finished—TITLE: SUBTITLE. The book . . . [here, provide a brief summary of your book.]

Would you be willing to review my book and consider writing an endorsement? Your endorsement would help me reach as many readers as possible.

I’ve attached a PDF of the manuscript. All we need is two to three sentences. And to be able to use your endorsement, I would need to have it by DATE.

What do you think?

NAME

Step 4: Follow up.

Squeaky wheels tend to get greased, and people are busy. Give your prospective endorsers a week, then follow up.

One simple way to do this is to forward your original request with something like “I’m bumping this to the top of your inbox because I haven’t heard you . . . would love to have your help.”

You may want to create a simple spreadsheet to be able to track your requests. Consider populating the left-most column with prospective endorser names. Then include columns to the right with labels such as “pitch sent,” “followed up,” “yes or no,” “endorsement received.”

Step 5: Edit the endorsements.

Unless endorsers specifically request that you not edit their quotes, I think it’s perfectly acceptable to edit for grammatical correctness or to reduce a quote’s length so that it will fit within the available space.

And, as alluded to earlier, make sure the text that comes after your endorser’s names is text that helps boost your book’s credibility.

If you have questions about whether an endorser would be okay with one of your edits, it’s much better to ask ahead of time than to face the awkward moment after publication.

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