Get Celebrity Endorsements for your Book

How to Get Celebrity Endorsements for Your Book

There is no question that having a spectacular cover for your book is important. But once you do, what
else can you do to improve search engine response and increase sales?

• An award seal
• A foreword by someone well known
• An endorsement, testimonial, or “blurb” by a celebrity

This Road Map discusses that last one (and actually, that middle one, too, if you haven’t published your
book yet). If/when you wish to submit your book to book contests in order to secure awards, seals, and
the kudos that go with them, there is another TIP SHEET in your Publishing Center that discusses book
awards and contests, the best ones to enter, and when their respective deadlines are.

There are three main steps to securing celebrity endorsements, testimonials, or forewords for your
book:

1. Picking the right celebrity
2. Perfecting your proposal
3. Contacting the celebrity

Step 1. Picking the right celebrity

Look, we’d all love it if Oprah endorsed our book! But how likely is that? The most important part of
picking a celebrity to endorse your book is to be realistic. Think of someone famous (or famous-ish)
within your genre. If you’ve written a non-fiction self-help book, don’t solicit Tony Robbins. Research
someone slightly less well known. If you’ve written a horror novel, don’t go after Stephen King—choose
an up-and-coming published horror novelist.

That’s so important, we’re going to repeat it. Think of celebrities with their own books that they want to
promote. Your odds are much better if the celebrity (or celebrities) you contact have a book title that
they would like to permanently include with ALL your copies. Be sure to mention that as a perk, in your
letter to them!

Step 2. Perfecting your proposal

In all likelihood, your celebrity of choice is not going to personally look at your proposal. But their “PR
Person” might. Do you know what their PR Person’s job is? Getting “press” or “exposure” for their client
(your celebrity of choice)! Your proposal must be written and packaged in a way that helps the PR
Person do their job more successfully and easily. Don’t make it seem like work. Make it seem like a
reward! After all, how likely are you to respond positively to mail that makes you work? (Think IRS). On
the other hand, how likely are you to respond positively to mail that seems like a reward? (Think
Publishers Clearing House).

Your package to your celebrity has to look like a prize. That doesn’t mean gift wrapping it in fancy paper
with a bow, but it does mean including a signed hard copy of your book and a short, concise, professional
cover letter that outlines the benefits (to the celebrity) in the first paragraph.

You may already know what you want to say, but if you don’t, here’s a suggestion for your cover letter
(with the “variables” you need to personalize offset with < > characters):

<Celebrity First & Last Name>
<Celebrity Street Address>
<Celebrity City, State, Zip>

<Date>

Re: Your Endorsement

Dear <Celebrity First and Last Name>,

Please accept this complimentary signed copy of my latest book. I wanted to personally send you a copy
since I was partly inspired by you to write it. I hope you enjoy it. I know I enjoyed your latest book,
<Celebrity’s Latest Book Title>, and I think readers might enjoy both!

Therefore, with your permission, I would like to mention you and your book, and would be deeply
grateful if you might consider composing a brief “cover blurb” or endorsement for my book. Not only is
this an opportunity for you to gain additional exposure for your <company / book(s) / website / name>,
but it is my hope that my readers might find inspiration in your work, as I have.

I realize your time is precious, so I have taken the liberty of drafting a possible endorsement for your
convenience. I would certainly be flattered if you preferred to compose something yourself; however, if
you are comfortable with my version below, I have made it easy for you to authorize its use by simply
completing the “Statement of Authorization” below.

<Place your ideal endorsement here. 2-3 sentences max. What would you ideally like the celebrity to
“say” about your book? Spell check it. Italicize it.>

<Place the celebrity’s name and “claim to fame” (author of book, profession, guru, etc.) under your
endorsement, left-justified like this.

Statement of Authorization: I, __________________________________________, authorize <put your name here>
to use the above/attached (circle one) endorsement for marketing purposes for <Put Your Book Title
Here>.

I have included a self-addressed, pre-paid envelope for your convenience. In debt and gratitude, I
appreciate your time and consideration.

Respectfully,

<Your name>
<Your contact information, including your address and phone number>

Step 3. Contacting the celebrity

Initiating contact with your celebrity of choice can happen in a number of different ways. If you’ve
actually met your celebrity, go with that lead first. Perhaps this is a result of “knowing someone who
knows someone” or attending a speaking engagement or seminar in person. Use any opportunity in that
vein to your advantage.

If, like most of us, you haven’t actually met your celebrity (or celebrities) of choice, you are going to be
left with a little research on your hands. The good news is, that isn’t as daunting as it once was.

Depending upon your celebrity, there are many ways to contact them, and most of those avenues may
be fairly public. Become aware of them. Don’t “follow” them, necessarily, but make note of them. The
more “contact points” your celebrity has, the less likely it is that your solicitation for an endorsement
will be successful. Make note of that, too. It’s easy to “find” Angelina Jolie. It’s not easy to get her to care
about your book.

Your celebrity of choice should hold some degree of relevance in the genre or subject matter of your
book. At the very least, that demonstrates their interest in the topic, which is important. Once you’ve
decided upon your celebrity (or celebrities—why contact only one?), and put your package proposal
together, you’re ready to contact them. You have the best chance of success if you do it through the
mail. Why? Because NO ONE uses the mail anymore. Everybody is emailing and texting.

You don’t want to be “everyone.” You want to be unique. So you’re going to need a physical address.
Their physical address, or the address of their publicist or manger, might be available online. All are
good (in that order). Specifically, look them up on Facebook and LinkedIn. You may even wish to
establish a rapport with them via their social media platforms first. If you do, you’re golden.

If all else fails, there are services that acquire and update contact information for celebrities for exactly
this purpose. Using their information isn’t going to guarantee a better result, but at least it will increase
the chances of your proposal/package landing in the right hands.

Our favorite is Contact Any Celebrity, which is an always updated “Rolodex” of anybody/everybody you
would want to endorse your book. If you require the contact information of any celebrity, influencer, or
public figure, this is the way to go. And the best part is, you can get a free seven-day trial before they
start charging you a subscription fee, which is why deciding upon your celebrities is STEP ONE. In other
words, have your list of celebrities first (maybe even for multiple books), and then sign up. You’ll get
everything you need in your free week.

Go here to start: https://contactanycelebrity.com/cac/1085.htm

Here’s to your great success.