Getting Celebrities and "Big Names" To Endorse Your Book
January 12, 2022Categories: Strategy,
BookMarketing.pro with Bo Bennett, PhD
This is a podcast for book marketing and promotion success stories, industry insider secrets, and strategies.
If your book is good enough for [insert name of famous person here], then it is good enough for most readers! By getting a person well-known to your audience to endorse your book can be worth thousands of dollars in sales.
Back when I wrote my first book in 2004, I sent a copy of my book along with a custom letter to about 25 famous people. Within weeks, I received two solid endorsements from A-listers. I added these endorsements to my book cover and I continue to reap the benefits to this day. This post is about how you can do the same.
This post is based on a service that we offer our clients that you can read about here. We take care of the heavy lifting for you with this service, but this is also something you can do yourself.
Soliciting endorsements as described in this post requires that you have a printed book and are willing to send copies from those whom you are asking for endorsements. While it is certainly possible to send e-mails with ebooks attached, in my experience, it is pointless.
Let me be clear by setting your expectations: Even the best celebrity endorsement doesn't make your books sell; they only provide the social proof needed to encourage a significantly greater portion of the potential buyers to become actual buyers. A good celebrity endorsement is only part of a successful book marketing campaign. So now, let's go step-by-step to see how this works.
STEP #1: Brainstorm Celebrity Names
The key is to contact celebrities that have some connection to your book. For example, when helping my daughter market her book about keeping oceans clean, we focused on celebrities that had previously devoted time to this cause. This is fairly easy to find with a little Googling. It is also important to round the list with some lesser-known names that still will pull some weight with your readers because let's face it, big-name celebrities most likely get many of these kinds of requests every day and are unlikely to even respond.
STEP #2: Collect Addresses
You will not find the physical or mailing addresses of the celebrities, but you will find them for their agents. This is fine. There are subscription-based services that list these addresses. The one we use is IMDB Pro. I know there are others as well. Be patient here, as gathering physical mailing addresses can be an arduous process.
STEP #3: Compose Unique and Sincere Letters to Each Celebrity on Your List
A form letter won't due. Your letter should be short (one or two paragraphs), to the point, and full of hearty approbation, and written so it is clear you are talking to only that person. This letter can be typed (especially if you have handwriting like mine) but should be on your letterhead and include your signature. Do not have an assistant sign these.
STEP #4: Include a Signed Copy of Your Paperback or Hardcover Book
Sign the book and put a small custom message in there for the celebrity. For example, if you are making the book out to Tom Cruise, you might write something witty like, "To bring with you on your next impossible mission :)"
STEP #5: Mail Away!
You can certainly send these via Fed Ex or some other overnight service, but USPS Priority Mail works just fine. Their website makes it easy to enter in the addresses from Step 2 and print out mailing labels. Then, you just need to take the books and the letters to the post office and place each letter with the book in the envelope and mail. Make sure you don't mess up and give a celebrity the wrong letter or book!
STEP #6: Wait.
Don't expect anything for at least a month and more reasonably 2–3 months.
STEP #7: If You Get an Endorsement...
First, that is awesome, especially if it is from an A-lister. You want to do some or all of the following:
- announce it on social media
- update your book cover with the endorsement
- add the endorsement to your Amazon page via Author Central
- update your book's website with the endorsement
- use the endorsement on ads
That's it. Good luck and remember that we can help you out with this service if you like.
