Landing celebrity endorsements
POSTED BY elaine ON June 29, 2011
PR by the Book founder, Marika Flatt, contributed a blog post to San Francisco Book Review’s “After the Manuscript” blog featuring Ben Lieberman, author of Odd Jobs. Ben landed himself two very high profile endorsements – and we wanted to share his story here, too!
First-time Novelist Lands Impressive Endorsements
by Marika Flatt
No one would be surprised to learn that first-time authors face a great deal of competition out of the gate. With one million books published every year in the U.S., how can authors distinguish themselves and tap into the audiences that would appreciate their work the most?
The public endorsement of a celebrity can lend your work that extra bit of velocity to push you past the crowd. Consumers identify celebrity endorsements as a measure of that person’s taste, and may accordingly align their reading lists in the same manner (think Oprah!).
With the cutthroat tenacity of a veteran of the Wall Street financial trenches, author Ben Lieberman knew if he wanted to get the frenzied attention of a reader today, he’d have to get some hefty endorsements. So he did just that, from media heavy weight and financial mogul Donald Trump, to the devoutly followed intrigue author, James Patterson.
Lieberman’s debut novel, Odd Jobs (Telemachus Press, June 2011), is a gut-wrenching thriller set within the underbelly of some of America’s seediest, weirdest and most frightening employment. The novel begins with college-aged protagonist Kevin Davenport working in a meat factory slicing cow tongues and day-dreaming of working for the local dairy factory where one might have a “nice clean job.” The thriller then rapidly moves into a litany of questionable employment endeavors by Kevin, into the sordid world of club fighting, drug dealing and underground gambling, with each “odd” job bringing Kevin closer to attaining revenge for his father’s murder.
With the same gumption as the novel’s protagonist, Lieberman made several bold moves to get his manuscript into the hands of Patterson and Trump. Living in New York City, he hunted “the Don” down on a golf course and admittedly stalked Patterson. He showed up with his book in hand, humbly introduced himself as a new author and politely asked if they would take the book home, read it and let him know what they thought about his work.
Lo and behold, three days later, Lieberman received a phone call on his home phone number from James Patterson (on his caller I.D.) and Patterson let him know that he couldn’t put it down and would be happy to offer an endorsement. No one was more surprised than Lieberman himself!
Lieberman not only believed enough in his own work to verbally introduce himself to both men, but to seek out the endorsement of public figures that would have a similar audience to the book he wrote. Not all authors are born with this same sort of media savvy that Lieberman clearly has. Garnering the respect of a fellow contemporary like Patterson is a feat in itself, but knowing who your audience is can be highly beneficial for a new author.
Boasting the endorsement of someone like James Patterson comes with a slew of subtle but profound benefits. Patterson’s work and those of authors like him, enjoy a considerable and devoted following of dedicated and involved readers. Regular readers of a particular author are more inclined to keep abreast of publications dates, utilize online communities and news resources, and share with friends of similar tastes. Such a following would recognize their favorite author’s name associated with any other author’s work, and subsequently be more open to the work they endorsed.
The lesson here: Get very clear on which celebrities’ fans would be most interested in your work. Define and be sure! Then, research a plan of reaching that person with a humble, honest plea for a short quote, letting them know how it will be used (in cover copy, on a press release, on your website, etc.) It’s not an easy feat, but with a detailed plan, it might come to fruition. Ben Lieberman is proof of that!
Tags: authors, ben lieberman, celebrity, endorsements, San Francisco Book Review
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