Then what do you do?

If you’re like most, you turn it over to read the book’s description on the back and look for the cover blurbs.

Similarly, when you’ve discovered a book on Amazon that looks interesting, what do you do after reading the description? You probably scroll down to see if there are any blurbs – testimonials – offered under “Editorial Reviews.” You might even use the “inside the book” feature to find them on the back cover or the first few inside pages.

Cover blurbs reassure readers

Cover blurbs – testimonials and endorsements – from relevant, influential, or important people tell us that the book we’re thinking about buying is a safe purchase. Favorable comments from people we already trust tell us the book is a low-risk investment.

They reassure us.

Testimonials from  people who are well-known and respected in the field or genre can clinch the sale for someone who’s not sure if your book is what they need.

If you’re traditionally published, they can also help get the publisher’s sales and marketing team excited about the book.

What happens if you don’t have one?

Does this mean that a printed back cover without these glowing recommendations will hurt book sales? Or that an e-book without one on the cover is sunk?

Nope.

Without comments from others, you’ve got more room on that back cover of a printed book for the description. That’s not a bad thing.

Your best combination, though, is a compelling book description plus one, two, or three pithy testimonials about the value your book brings to the reader. You want that book buyer to think that yours is the book that will help them experience the promise of your book. That promise might be fiction’s  entertainment or escapism or nonfiction’s discovery and learning.

How to get them

Cover blurbs are essentially what marketers refer to as “social proof.” They tell us that someone has read the book and liked it.

Isn’t that a message you want to send to readers?

If you need to learn how to get compelling cover blurbs, you’ll want to enroll in my online course, “Blurbs, Endorsements, and Testimonials: How to Get Experts, Authorities, Celebrities, and Others to Endorse Your Book.” It will show you how even an unknown author can get a dream endorsement with the right approach. Get all course details here.

Do you have a question about how to find and reach the right “blurbers?” Leave them here.