Soliciting endorsements—those pithy “blurbs” touting a book’s merits that appear on book covers and on the flyleaf—is one of the most frightening and exhilarating moments of the book-publishing process.

First, I had to decide who I would beg ask to endorse my books. “What famous people do I know who have a connection to adoption?” I mused. Hmmm.

I could count them on less than one hand. Not a good start.

I decided I needed to meet some famous people with adoption connections. And I did. I can’t tell you how I did, because that would be giving away trade secrets and then I’d have to kill you.

Okay, I’ll admit that I’ve been watching too many episodes of “Criminal Minds” while walking on my treadmill. I guess I can share a couple of trade secrets.

First, I started a blog. I launched my Exploring Adoption blog over two years ago, namely because I’m passionate about encouraging and informing others who are interested in adoption.

But blogging does have side benefits. One benefit is that everybody who has anything to do with adoption e-mails me. As a result, I’ve “met,” via cyberspace, many other authors (and other cool people) who are as passionate about adoption as I am. We take care of one another. We review one another’s books on our respective blogs. We endorse one another’s books. We share the love, baby.

Second, I attend writers’ conferences and the big booksellers’ trade show. At those venues, I meet tons of people with direct connections to adoption (and some of them are famous; hip, hip, hooray!). After much groveling and schmoozing on my part, several of them agreed to endorse my books.

I’m kidding about the groveling. I recall groveling only once. Maybe twice. Okay, three times. And I don’t schmooze solely for the purpose of soliciting endorsements. I truly enjoy meeting people, sharing adoption stories with them, and keeping in contact via e-mail.

Book endorsements are sometimes the result of an “I’ll scratch your back if you scratch mine” relationship. I regularly interview adoption authors on my blog and review their books, just because I’m interested in them and I think they have something important to offer the world. Sometimes, after featuring a particular author, I’ll think, “I really respect this person. I’d love to include an endorsement from him/her on my book’s cover. Maybe I should ask…”

The asking part is the most difficult for me. I feel as if I’m silently begging, “Would you please, please, pleeeeaaase read this book by a nameless, first-time author and lend it credibility by saying wonderful things about it? I promise to splash your already-famous name all over the cover. And if you aren’t already really, really famous, you’re sure to become so by having your name appear on the greatest book about adoption ever written in the history of the world!”

My life motto is, “It never hurts to ask.” So I gut it out and ask. And guess what? Most of time, people respond, “Sure, I’d be happy to read your manuscript and if I like it, I’ll endorse it.”

Oh, the joy of hearing those words!

Oh, the ecstasy of receiving that coveted endorsement! A famous person actually liked my book enough to recommend it to the world! Coooool.

So, who is endorsing my books? The endorsements are still rolling in, but here are several people from whom I’ve received endorsements for The Adoption Decision:

Karen Kingsbury, super-duper famous, #1 best-selling author of inspirational fiction and adoptive mom (we met at a trade show when I interviewed her for a magazine article that was published in Today’s Christian)

Ruth Graham and Sara Dormon, co-authors of So You Want to Adopt…Now What? (we met last year at a trade show. Ruth is Billy Graham’s daughter. Need I say more?)

Barbara Curtis, author of numerous books, newspaper columnist, and mother of 12, including three adopted sons with Down syndrome. Barbara and I met at both a writers’ conference and a trade show. I recently profiled her in Today’s Christian magazine)

Other articles in this series:

Titling My Adoption Books: An Insider’s Look into the Publishing Industry

Putting a Lid on It: An Insider’s Look into the Publishing Industry

In the Galleys: An Insider’s Look into the Publishing Industry