Book Endorsements

Book endorsements can help sell books. I know that. I also know that I should have started trying to secure the endorsements for my new book a lot earlier.

The problem? I’d pushed to get Busting the Brass Ceiling–the new book I’ve co-authored, which comes out on 11/20–revised, edited and polished in record time. As soon as design and production on the book had been finalized, I had to figure out how to get advance reader copies into the hands of reviewers. Luckily for me, most reviewers are accepting digital copies due to COVID. Of course, that required getting a BookFunnel account so that reviewers could download my book and my media kit (yes, I had to create that as well) from a reputable source. Then I had to send out the review requests, making sure to follow each reviewer’s particular protocol.

By that point, I was ready for a break. So, I took one (if you don’t count the social media work, which I’ll write about in my November 5th blog post).

Had I not already had book endorsements from the likes of bestselling author of police and crime books Joseph Wambaugh—who also wrote the book’s foreword—and Tom Bradley, 38th Mayor of Los Angeles, which my co-author had secured years ago, I would have been in trouble. That’s why in the self-publishing checklist I’ve put together, I recommend that you start requesting book endorsements a good four to six months ahead of your book launch.

With less than two months to go before publication, I realized that I had to write those book endorsement request letters immediately or simply forget about them. Luckily, I had already created an endorsement request template, part of the Launch Package available at Incubation Press. So, after finalizing my list of potential endorsers and tracking down their email addresses, I customized the book endorsements template and was ready to go.

Whether you decide to opt for my template or create a letter of your own from scratch, here are a few tips I’ve figured out along the way:

• Make sure your subject line grabs people’s attention. Instead of heading my email with something basic and forgettable (like Will you endorse my book?), my subject line read: Help celebrate women who fight for equality.
• After explaining why you’re approaching the endorser, provide a short but enticing description of the book. Then ask for an endorsement in bold font, so that your request stands out.
• Follow up with specifics about the book and how prospective endorsers can obtain a copy. This is where having that BookFunnel link comes in.
• Offer sample book endorsements to increase your chances of success.

Finally, don’t hesitate to go big when creating your list of prospective endorsers. You don’t get if you don’t ask.