“Getting Testimonials for Your Book...
--An Expert's Step-by-Step Guide”
Here's a secret strategy to get all the testimonials and endorsements you could want for the book you write!
by Steve Manning
You can get some outstanding testimonials for your book, with very little effort. Here’s the strategy that works relentlessly… If you say something wonderful about your book, you’re saying it because you have an ulterior motive. You want to sell your book or your product. It might be true, it might not be true, but it will certainly be embellished, thinks the prospect, because you’re the one saying it.
Now, if you show me a disinterested third person and you have him or her say the same thing, I’m much more likely to believe it. Hey, that’s a real person, just like me, and they’re saying that this book is wonderful, so, it must be true (or at least it must be closer to the truth than when the same thing was said by the author.)
And if you can get that same testimonial to be said by someone the prospect knows, or trusts, then you get the halo affect. This third person is a wonderful person and he says your book is wonderful therefore your book must be wonderful.
It can get even better. If you can get the same endorsement by a celebrity whom the prospect trusts, you’ve got still greater weight behind your product and the prospect is still more likely to want your book.
Okay, let’s start talking about endorsements for your book. True, when you begin you’re not likely to have anything at all, (however, that’s not always the case). Let’s suppose you already have a book and by pure chance, you have a few good testimonials about that book. Unless they’re very book specific you can use those testimonials for your new book, particularly if they’re singing your personal praises as a person who can really dig down deep into a subject and come up with the surprising benefits readers want.
Time for a little unabashed, self promotion: If you haven’t asked for my Free CD, “How to Write a Book On Anything in 14 Days Guaranteed!” then you’re just plain nuts! It’s free, no charge, but you can bet this $100 CD will be carrying that price tag very shortly. How do you get it? Just email me at Free CD, Please, or CD_please@writeabooknow.com and make sure you include your name, your mailing address and your telephone number in the email. Now, back to the article…
Failing that, contact a half dozen friends and tell them you’re writing a book and that you’d like them to give you testimonials about your own ability and that you’re really a fantastic person who provides nothing but the best in writing quality and that you’re committed to giving the reader everything they could possibly want… and then some.
Don’t take chances, write the testimonials yourself. Let your friends read them, of course, and make any changes they think appropriate, and then sign the testimonials and get them back to you. By the way, if you ask a person twice for a testimonial and you don’t get it back, you might have a bigger issue with this person than you knew.
Okay, let’s move a step up. You’ve written your book and you don’t have any testimonials, so send complimentary copies to friends, acquaintances, me, big names in the industry, little names in the industry and be very up front. Tell them you’re sending them a complimentary copy of your new book and that all you ask is that they send you a testimonial you can use in your marketing. Those folks who are particularly marketing savvy will go out of their way to send you a testimonial (particularly if you’ve provided one already) because it means more notoriety for them and their own efforts.
Along the way, you’ll start getting unsolicited testimonials from folks who buy your book and then email, or mail or call you to tell you what a fantastic book you have. With every one of them, make sure you record, or note the testimonials, get them down on paper, send them a copy asking if they’d sign a short two sentence agreement that you can use their comments for your marketing efforts and then put that testimonial up on your testimonial page. Remember, you’re going to stuff the first three, five, 20 pages with all these testimonials so that when a person lifts your book from the bookstore shelf, the first thing he sees will be all these endorsements!
So don’t let the absence of testimonials stop you from writing and marketing your ebook. You’ll have at least one as soon as you can send me an email. And by following the brief instructions right here, you’re going to turn them into an outstanding marketing tool.
When you use those testimonials, make sure you use both first and last names. A testimonial from John Johnson is much more powerful than a testimonial from John J. And although you don’t (and shouldn’t) include their city of origin, you can certainly use their state, or province, or county, or country. Your objective is to make this person real, so the reader has no reason to be suspicious of their actual existence.
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