Hi! We are developing several e-books on the contracting niche and would like to generate several credible testimonials aside from those who buy. Are there other means to generate these without risking the possibility of letting others use the e-books illegally? Any helpful advice will be very much appreciated!
What most people do is give the book away to a specific number of people in exchange for an honest review. It works like a charm. I'd find the most popular forum in the niche and look for those forum members who give good, helpful advice and who have been members for a while. I'd ask them to review my book and give me their honest opinion. I'd let them know that I would use the testimonial in my sales letter or other places and make sure they are ok with that. Most people are basically good and will not "share" your book with others.
Discount is a great option but it depends on the niche. If you want really strong testimonials then find established and high profile people within your sector and ask for a testimonial of your book. You might have to py them but its a good opportunity. Otherwise give it away free to a select group or offer a discount as revax suggests.
It's also good to ask a credible person to write an forward or introduction, then you can put their name on the front too (With Forward by____, With Introduction by ____.) This also establishes credibility.
Send an email to your list telling them that you want real, honest reviews of your book. If you have no list, put it up on Amazon Kindle for a short time for free or less than .99 and then copy and paste the reviews people leave you. If it's a good book, you'll get good reviews.
You can send copies to your friends or colleagues and ask each of them to write a testimonial to be posted on your site. While some people are doing other methods to get creative testimonials for them, getting testimonials first from friends and/or your colleagues are the best for me, especially if your ebook is just published recently. For sure, you will generate not only genuine testimonials but also compelling ones for they might write them in a way that they promote the ebook to the readers.