Tips for Adding Testimonials to Your Book Jacket Cover
The reader is looking for a reason to purchase your book. It's up to you to hook them. If thousands of books are being published every day, how will you make your book stand out? It's been said that the average person spends 8 seconds looking at the front cover and 15 seconds on the back. The fact of the matter is that good testimonials can, and do, sell books.
Testimonials are short blurbs, sales pitches, or reviews of a book by people with credible links to the content. Big-name blurbs carry weight and can move books like nothing else. Below are a few tips on how to solicit strong, credible blurbs for your book.
Send the galleys, or printers' proofs, to at least four respected professionals in your field for peer review. This is a common practice. Then approach your peer reviewers for testimonials. They're now familiar with your work and won't be surprised by the query.
Next, you have two options. You may offer to write the testimonial on behalf of those you have asked for. Draft a suggested testimonial and include a cover letter acknowledging their expertise in the field and that you are including a first draft to get them started.
It's a good idea to personally to call the person and use quotes from your conversation to craft a blurb.
Both of these options allow you to draft a strong jumping-off point for your testimonial writers. They'll come up with something better, make minor changes, or sign off on what you've written; no matter what, you've got a strong blurb that will help to sell your book.
A few words of caution: Like most good things, blurbs are good in moderation. A couple on the back cover by reputable authors in your field will help the sell the book. Three or four pages on the inside, unless the book is an international bestseller, is probably overkill.
Go ahead and contact respected peers in your field, but be cautious of those that have been termed in the industry as "over-blurbers". An author's name found too often blurbing similar publications may reduce the value of the testimonial for your book. Look for thoughtful readers willing to offer genuine reviews and comments. There's no point in misleading the reader with a testimonial; everyone knows it's what's inside that counts.
Keep in mind that while you may try to design and format your book jacket cover on your own, there are professional editors who will do it for you. An experienced editor will create a professionally written book jacket cover that will capture your audience's attention. This is short, succinct copy that sends a strong message about your writing.