1. False testimony

I highly recommend not doing this. Readers are very sophisticated and are very attentive to what is real or false. If there’s even the slightest hint that it was made up, you’ll lose your audience and they won’t come back. Don’t forget that legitimate testimonials are extremely easy to obtain. Therefore, there is no practical reason to create counterfeits. You have to be very careful not to do things like this because it will cause you and your book to lose credibility with your audience. And, as a self-publisher, credibility with your audience is essential if you hope to be successful. Building credibility with your audience can take years. Don’t ruin all your hard work by being too lazy to get legitimate testimonials.

2. Real testimony, without name, position or company of the person

For instance: “Jones’s book was really good.” Zachary S.

This testimony is a total waste of time and insulting to your audience. Your audience will automatically assume that these are false. And if by chance they are not perceived as fake, your audience will wonder why none of your readers give their full name and title. You will lose sales either way. There are many people who are willing to use your full name and title, and your buying audience knows it. Your job as a self-publisher is to find them.

3. Real testimony, with the name of the person, the position and the company, speaking of your book in generalities.

For instance: “Jones’s book was a lot of fun to read.” Dr. Zachary Smith, associate professor of physics, MIB University.

This one too is too vague to be of any value to your buying audience. But at least this one has a real person with a fancy title attached to it. You should contact this person and ask for a more specific testimony. Mention some things in your book that they may have noticed or that interested them. Tell them more about what you were trying to accomplish with your book.

4. Real testimony, with the name of the person, the position and the company, speaking of you, the author.

For instance: “Jones is an amazing author and teacher. His writing is so clear and concise.” Dr. Zachary Smith, associate professor of physics, MIB University.

This is a good statement about you, the author, but it doesn’t say anything about the book itself. Some of your buying audience may be inclined to buy your book because it says nice things about you. But most consumers want to know more about the book itself.

5. Real testimonial, with the name of the person, the position and the company, talking about themselves and how they benefited from your book.

For instance: “Jones’s book helped me to finally understand Einstein’s theory of relativity. His book made it so clear and easy to understand. Thanks to this book, I was no longer falling behind in my studies and I was finally able to pass my final exam. “. Dr. Zachary Smith, associate professor of physics, MIB University.

Ok, here we finally get to that. This is a much better testimonial because it tells your shopping audience how they could benefit from reading your book. This “third person testimony” is extremely strong to obtain. It is much more credible than the others. You speak directly to the needs of your audience and tell them how they will benefit specifically and directly from buying and reading your book. They look for books like yours because they have a need they must satisfy, a need for which they are willing to pay their hard-earned money. Your testimonials should show them how they will benefit from buying your book. Don’t forget to get a variety of testimonials like this from a variety of people: celebrities, experts with fancy titles, minor celebrities, industry gurus, other authors, and average readers. A variety of testimonials like this add up to become a very powerful way to increase your credibility and your book sales.

6. Real testimony, with the name of the person, the position and the company, and a photograph in the head, talking about themselves and how they benefited from your book.

In addition to “Actual Testimony # 5,” try to get the author of the testimonial to give you a small head shot. This won’t be easy to do, but you should ask anyway. This will be especially good to use on your website.

7. Real testimony, with the name of the person, the position and the company, and a video, talking about themselves and how they benefited from your book.

This is like hitting the jackpot. This is the definitive testimony. Keep the testimony on video in about 60 seconds. Place it on your website. If possible, have them create the video testimonial to use on Amazon, such as a customer video testimonial.