Seeking endorsements for book - the horror ....

[generaljake]

Hi all, I wonder if anyone has any advice on this? I have just written a book which will come out next year. I have been asked by the publisher to provide a list of people (other academics) who will write an endorsement for the cover. To be honest, this request makes me feel sick. I am really very badly networked - I have few to almost no academic colleagues or 'friends' who I can approach on this. In fact, at risk of sounding sorry for myself, when I look at acknowledgements in other books which list the great and the good I just gulp.

The thought of asking the very few I do know to provide an endorsement is horrifying - what if they think the book is rubbish? Then they are put in the awkward situation of having to say no? And this thought is even worse if I have to think about people I don't know. Also, presumably, people who provide an endorsement need to read the book!?

Aaaargh. What do I do? Slightly wishing I had never written the book now. Thanks in advance!

Who were the academics who peer-reviewed the proposal? You may not know who they were as publishers differ on how strictly they apply peer-review to manuscripts but presumably they were favourably inclined and the publishing house will know who they were. So that's a couple of people for starters.

Is this book a refashioned PD thesis? If so, I would list the examiners.That could potentially be another two people.

Have you recently done any peer reviews for journals or had an article published recently in a specialist journal? You could list some of the people on the editorial board/committee.

I would also look for people who have favourably cited other things you've written and suggest them.

You may initially think you know no-one and no-one would think well of your work but you should able to supply half a dozen names without to much trouble.

Oh bother. TOO much trouble!

Thank you @ghislaine. That is really helpful.

I need to take some very deep breaths I think. It's not a PhD - I am much further along than that but still, with very poor networks. I am just a rubbish networker partly because I don't feel remotely confident to build networks and partly because I am a terrible introvert who finds it very difficult to do that kind of thing. I also wonder whether if I was a better academic, people might have wanted to develop networks with me. Not sure.

Another thing I am worried about is that the book has gone out for review, but since then I have spotted some especially major flaws - sort of in the set-up and the structure of a couple of chapters. I think they are fixable flaws but I am not sure I want potential endorsers to see this version.

Does anybody know whether this is usual for revie w stage ?-I was just so close to it by the point it was going out I couldn't 'see ' it very clearly.

Thought the book was called The Horror! Was going to name some people.

@Obakarama it’s not .. although now you say it, it might actually work. Hmm. I’ll have a think.