Securing Testimonials

If you're publishing a work of non-fiction, it's always a good idea to secure blurbs from other industry professionals prior to publication. These "cover quotes" or testimonials or endorsements are good for a variety of uses, from enhancing your front cover, to fleshing out the back, to inclusion within sales sheets, press releases, and other promotional materials (postcards, posters, etc). It never hurts to be able to add an industry testimonial to your webpage and/or Amazon.com listing, and the higher profile the endorsee, the better.

How do you get professional testimonials? By asking, of course. The trick is positioning the request in a manner where they see the benefit to them. Well known, high-caliber professionals and "celebrities" are always on the look-out for additional ways they can market themselves -- why do you think they're so well known?

For example, I contact Dan Poynter with a request to offer a testimonial for my upcoming book Publishing Gems: Insider Information for the Self-Publishing Writer. Dan Poynter is the best selling author of The Self-Publishing Manual, as well as a highly sought after public speaker and wildly acclaimed expert on self-publishing. (He "literally wrote the book" so to speak).

So, in given an opportunity to have his name and his book title associated with another book that would be marketed to the same audience (ie, my book), Mr. Poynter graciously offered a generous testimonial for my book. I plan on placing it above the title. After all, Publishing Gems is not yet know, but Dan Poynter is. Thank you Dan.

More later about the other blurb I got from the President of CIPA.