3 things you can do today to get amazing blurbs tomorrow
What’s worse than not making the effort to get glowing blurbs for your book before it’s published?
Not planning ahead to make sure that you get them from the most impressive and influential people possible.
While you can completely “cold call” the rock stars of your genre or industry and get cover blurbs that will make your mother proud, you’ll have a greater success rate – and work half as hard at it – if you take a few steps in advance.
Why? Because you’re more likely to get a positive response from someone who knows your name than from someone who has never heard of you.
Here are three things you can do now that will pay off when you’re ready to make that important request.
1. Socialize online.
Connect on social media, but make sure that you’re using the right social media networks. Going after high-profile foodies or chefs? Look on Pinterest. Are the people who will blurb your book in the business world? Check out LinkedIn. Looking to connect with Millennials? Try Twitter, Instagram, or Tumblr.
Follow them. Retweet or share what they share. Comment on their status updates and blog posts.
2. Socialize in person.
Is your dream blurber making a presentation near where you live? Attend it and introduce yourself before or after. Compliment the speaker and presentation in a follow-up e-mail, mentioning something specific that resonated with you.
Attend networking events where you might meet someone who will be an ideal endorser. Register for key conferences, seminars, and trade shows where you will meet the right people while you learn even more about your topic and audience.
3. Ask for introductions.
Do you know somebody who knows somebody who knows somebody? Ask for an in-person or virtual introduction. (This is a particularly good approach when you want blurbs from celebrities and other famous people.)
Don’t even think of leveraging the introduction to request a favor immediately, though. Be generous with your time and information before ever expecting anything in return.
How do you start?
My multi-media training program, “Blurbs, Endorsements, and Testimonials: How to Get Experts, Authorities, Celebrities, and Others to Endorse Your Book,” takes the guesswork, uncertainty, and mystery out of this important process and shows you how to get the blurbs of your dreams.
Step-by-step instructions, an insider interview about snagging celebrity endorsements, tracking files, and sample queries give you everything you need to succeed. Check it out — I think you’ll be surprised at all that the program offers for a super low price.
What’s holding you back from going after your dream endorsement? What’s your biggest obstacle?
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I so appreciate your sharing this advice. While I am now on FaceBook and LinkedIn and also write a weekly blog, I’m not confident I have been hitting my target audience. I will definitely take your advice and try to focus more on connecting with the millenials I hope to attract to my novel. I don’t have a website yet, and I am wondering if you think it better to set up my own personal website or a book website?
Barbara, first, your blog should be integrated into your website — you don’t want your blog at one URL and your website at another. It’s counter-productive — you’ll have to drive traffic to 2 sites, not one. That aside, I don’t know enough to give you solid advice but in general, if you plan to write more than one book or if you plan to build some kind of business around this book, then you’ll want to use a URL for your name, not the book title. Book-title-only URLs are best for people who write a book that is unrelated to what ever else they’re doing online (for example, a human resources consultant writing a YA novel).
Sandy