A book review is a literary criticism that expresses the reader’s opinion about the book’s content. It might be flattering; it might be unflattering.

An endorsement, also known as a book blurb or testimonial, is short, advance praise for your book from someone who influences your book’s target audience. They key word here is “praise.”

Two forms of book reviews

While endorsements are (nearly) always solicited, reviews aren’t always. They can happen organically when any random reader decides to critique your book.

Before Amazon, book reviews were written by professional reviewers — people whose job it is to read and critique books. Since Amazon initiated “customer reviews,” book reviews now come in two forms:

1. Professional media/editorial/literary/trade reviews (they go by many names)
2. Reader reviews

Professional reviews (media/editorial/literary/trade) are written by professional book reviewers. Their goal is to provide objective commentary that will help people decide if they want to read the book.

They can come from reviewers who work for publishing industry publications (such as Kirkus Reviews or Publisher’s Weekly), trade magazines, newspapers, or certain blogs or websites.

Publishers and authors solicit them in advance of publication for two reasons. First, so that they can pull excerpts to use as blurbs. And second, so that the reviews will be published around the time the book is released.

You solicit them from monthly, printed publications three to four months in advance of publication date. Newspapers, bloggers, online publications, and websites have shorter lead times, so you can contact them closer to your release date.

Reader reviews are exactly that — reviews from your book’s target audience. They’re reviews from the people you wrote the book for.

You can secure them before publication by giving away pre-publication review copies. Unlike literary reviews and blurbs, however, they can’t be posted on your Amazon sales page until the book’s publication date.

Still, if you’ve got a well-organized review campaign in place, it’s possible to get honest reviews posted and shared on or near your publication date so that people see honest reader feedback as soon as they visit the book’s sales page.

Book endorsements

Endorsements/blurbs/testimonials are secured pre-publication so that they can be featured:

• On the book’s front or back cover
• Inside the front pages
• On the book’s Amazon and other retail sales pages in the “Editorial Reviews” sections
• In your book’s Amazon A+ Content on your detail page
• In your marketing materials
• On your website

They might be from media/editorial/literary/trade reviewers, but more often than not, they’re from influential people in your book’s niche or category. The people you ask for a blurb are those your target readers like, trust, and respect.

You control endorsement visibility

You (or your publisher) control whether endorsements are or aren’t used and seen.

The expectation is that any influencer who takes the time to endorse your book will truly endorse it by saying something positive. If you get negative feedback from an endorser, you might be able to learn from the comments, but you won’t use any of them publicly.

That said, a professional reviewer — as opposed to an influencer — can write and publish a less-than-flattering review. If that happens, you simply won’t pull an excerpt from that for your book marketing.

Endorsements in action

How will you use endorsements or excerpts from early reviews? Here are three ways a publisher of a thriller I just read (and loved), 56 Days, is using early endorsements from both professional reviewers and influencers.

Back cover

Editorial Reviews (click on the image to enlarge it)

Amazon A+ Content

Why should you care?

via GIPHY

Blurbs/endorsements/testimonials from influential people give your book credibility while reassuring your target audience that the book will deliver on its promise.

Honest reviews, whether they’re from media outlets or readers, help readers decide if your book is what they’re looking for in fiction or nonfiction. Even negative reviews are important, since what one reader didn’t like about your book might be exactly what another reader is looking for.

Make sure you’ve got strategies for soliciting both reviews and endorsements in your book marketing plan. They’re essential to your book’s long-term and ongoing success.

Resources that will help

Need help? I have two resources for you. The Build Book Buzz multi-media training program, “Blurbs, Endorsements, and Testimonials: How to Get Experts, Authorities, Celebrities, and Others to Endorse Your Book,” provides everything you need to secure pre-publication blurbs from influential individuals.

And, my Reader Book Review Forms — one each for fiction and nonfiction — help you get more reader reviews by taking the mystery out of the review-writing process for your fans.

It’s important to note that you can always solicit both endorsements and reviews. Work with your publisher (or do it yourself if you’re self-published) to update your Editorial Reviews section and cover as you acquire more endorsements.

You can never have too many reader reviews, too, so continue to pursue them as much as you can.

What’s keeping you from going after an endorsement from your dream book blurber? Tell us why you haven’t done it yet, and maybe we can get you past the obstacles. 

(Editor’s note: This article was first published in May 2015. It has been updated and expanded.)