Design for Books

An endorsement has value even if the endorser has no credentials or fame. Any reader who provides an endorsement has at least one presumed qualification: He or she has read the book and liked it. That has value for buyers. Nevertheless, the goal is to get high-value endorsements and this means some endorsements are temporary placeholders for future endorsements that have more persuasive power.

There will always be a hierarchy of value for endorsements, just as there is a hierarchy for positioning endorsements. To better understand these value ranges, it is helpful to divided endorsements and endorsers into value categories so you can identify priorities and placement strategies.

Three types of endorsements

Book endorsements: These are endorsements about the book’s merits. In most cases, these endorsements require that readers have time to read the book or somehow evaluate the manuscript or publication.

Author endorsements: These are endorsements about the author and refer to the author’s credentials, expertise, accomplishments, speaking or teaching abilities, the effect on the lives of other people, etc. This type of endorsement doesn’t require that people know about the book or have time to read it.

Subject endorsements: These are what I call “Power quotes.” They are technically not endorsements at all, but rather quoted statements from authoritative or recognized sources that are related to the book’s subject matter. Quotes that engage readers are particularly effective if they are predictive statements or statement that underscore the subject matter’s urgency. In some cases, the quote is merely from an authoritative voice, such as a John Muir quote on the back of a book about the Wilderness Adventure. Always be sure that the statement is in the public domain or fits within editorial or “fair use” criteria.

In most cases, book endorsements are more valuable than the others. However, it may be easier or quicker to get author endorsements or to research and find power quotes. Sometimes a combination of two or more types is effective. Your strategy will often be determined by circumstantial considerations, such as whether the endorsers deliver usable endorsements or whether you have sufficient time to get endorsements before publication, etc.

Three types of endorsers

Just as these are different types of endorsements, there are different types of endorsers.

“Opinion-shaper” endorsers: Anyone who is famous (authors, bloggers, vloggers), well known, and trusted, such as celebrities, industry or thought leaders, athletes, etc.

Qualified endorsers: Any readers with relevant credentials, such as clients, experts, scholars, business professionals, other authors, etc.

Reader endorsers: Any readers, including friends and acquaintances. Consider the value the person offers with regard to relatableness with your target audience.

Endorsers with obvious qualifications are more valuable than unknown persons without qualifications. Opinion-shapers, however, tend to be more valuable than even qualified experts. Never use an opinion-shaper, however, that is incompatible with your publisher brand or readership. Because endorsements will have different levels of persuasiveness, you will want to give position preference to the best ones.

Endorsement placement strategy

As you acquire endorsements you can begin to identify where to place them. You may likely want to use endorsements on a variety of resources before the book is published, such as web pages, social media, banner ads, etc. The many places endorsements can be used is one reason why it is good to continually collect as many favorable statements as you can.

Generally speaking, 1–5 endorsements work well on the back cover. Three short endorsements is a good number. Excerpt the strongest statements for the back cover and use complete versions of the same endorsements, along with additional ones, on pages the front-matter pages of the book (before the title page). These front-matter endorsements are optional but highly recommended. Front-matter endorsements can fill as many pages as you want, one or even twenty pages.

If you have the good fortune of getting an opinion-shaper to endorse your book, consider putting that endorsement on the front cover of the book.

For paperbacks, the front cover is the premium position (only for use with opinion-shaper and expert endorsements), followed by the back cover and then inside front-matter pages. For hardcover jackets, place the endorsements on the back cover where they are most visible and not the inside flaps.

To learn more about how to manage an endorsement schedule, read my post Book Endorsement Planning: Creating a Schedule Strategy

Getting quality endorsements quickly is not always possible. The desired readers may be unavailable and the publication schedule may not allow enough time. Nevertheless, endorsements are so valuable and important for selling books that it is a good plan to continue to collect them whenever possible.

Even when you have three or four high-quality endorsements for a book cover, there is value in adding pages of endorsements to the front-matter pages and even replacing endorsements with better endorsements when the book is reprinted.

Never stop getting endorsements. Create an endorsement schedule strategy. The time to get endorsements divides into three stages:

Manuscript stage

Pre-publication design stage

Post-publication stage

Manuscript stage: If you want to get endorsements in the manuscript stage, always consider how the selected readers will react to a manuscript compared to an actual book with a professional design, even if it is a PDF rather than printed copy.

If you have published before and readers can see your name on a quality book, you can start looking for endorsers during the manuscript stage (pre-book design stage). If, however, you are a first-time author, readers may be reluctant to put their names with endorsements on your book if they don’t know how professional the book will be when it is published. For that reason it is beneficial to show them the book after it has been designed, but before it is printed. This is especially true for self-help and how-to books because, if the book is designed and produced well, readers will have less trouble reading and understanding the content.

If the book is highly technical, similar to an academic book, or purely literary, readers will likely be more focused on your evidence or writing ability than on the concerns about professional publishing and design quality. Nevertheless, if a reader sees the book when it has already been professional designed, the endorsement will likely be stronger.

Pre-publication design stage: The most common way to show a book before publication is to create an ePDF for review purposes. This is a PDF of the complete book or a portion that has been enhanced for review purposes. The front cover is inserted at the beginning of the file. At the top, a notice is enclosed with the words “For Review Purposes—Not for Sale or Distribution.” Each page in the book is watermarked in the margin with the same notice. The PDF has “no edit” security added so that the notice cannot be removed. Additional security can also be applied, such as no printing or password to open. Usually, it is better not to require a password to open because this is not a good reader experience and may result in fewer endorsements.

A second way to show a book before publication is to use print-on-demand (POD). This can be done for both review and endorsement purposes. Print only the number of copies needed. Once you have received review suggestions and endorsements, you can both make adjustments to the book as well as add the endorsements to an updated cover file and the front-matter pages. This is a low-risk and low-cost method for testing a book before switching to offset printing (offset usually requires ordering 1500 or more books to make it worthwhile). It is also a low-cost method even if you continue with POD.

(WARNING: Read the POD terms carefully. Never use a POD supplier that automatically connects the POD service to an online retailer page and doesn’t allow you to change suppliers for that retailer. If you are working with a publishing consultant, they should be aware of this hazard.)

Post-publication stage: Whether you use POD or offset printing, you may want to eventually update the cover and front matter pages with newer endorsements. Adding endorsements in the post-publication stage usually happens when a book is selling well and there is a need to reprint more copies. The endorsements are added to the new printing. Bear in mind that a new print run is not a new edition. A new edition is an edition that has significant changes or additions, such a foreword by an important person. Additional or different endorsements do not constitute a new edition.