HOW TO GET YOUR BOOK INTO LIBRARIES — Finding Your Reader 2
Your book on library shelves is a great strategy for any author:
There are many reasons why your book will benefit from library aquisition.
- Having your book in a city library can potentially get your book in the hands of many readers.
- Most libraries will purchase more than one copy, and sometimes many copies if the book is in circulation.
- Libraries rarely return books (unless they are damaged), unlike bookstores. If bookstores don’t sell your book within a fairly short period of time, usually a few months or less, they may return the book.
- Libraries may offer a place for you to come and do a reading or a book signing.
- Libraries can help you connect with others in the community and foster relationships that benefit you and other authors.
There are challenges to getting your book on a library shelf:
It is important to understand how bookstores and libraries get the books they display. They don’t just put your book on the shelf because you send them a copy. Au contraire. Instead, when a library receives an unsolicited and undirected copy of a book, it will likely end up in their annual book sale!
Sending flyers with your book’s information to libraries in the past might have had some success then, but it doesn’t get results now. You can’t get a job with a paper application either. Those wisps of drift wood likely go in the trash. Most everything requires an electronic interface today.
There is a cost involved in giving copies of your book away or creating and mailing out flyers, and there can be a cost in communicating effectively with bookstores and libraries, ensuring the right person at the library knows your book is available.
Three ways to get your book on a library shelf:
The list below includes both free and paid options for reaching the right library staff. There is a way to do this that only involves the cost of your time.
1. Go to the American Library Association conference and put your book directly into the hands of librarians who are interested in your book. The charge for the display table, plus your travel expenses and overnight somewhere, can cost $1000 or more. (Do you have someone you want to visit in Chicago? San Diego? DC?)
2. Advertise in the Library Journal quarterly flyer. Do the “library blast” in your book’s genre. This goes to thousands of libraries. (Some authors have sold many books due to the blast.)
3. Go to each individual library’s website, find the place to submit your request to have them carry (acquire/aquisitions) your book. This is an online activity. You could do this yourself for free or hire someone to do it for you.
- Be aware that most bookstores and libraries will require your book to be available through Ingram Distribution and properly discounted, and won’t accept Amazon books.
There are certainly other ways to get your book on library shelves. You could dress non-challently and slip a copy into the correct section on the shelf as if it were accidently not catalogued. You could stand at the check out desk and hand patrons flyers asking them to ask for the book to be in circulation. Or maybe you could try one of the three ideas above.
If you know of other ways, please let me know.
Keep Scratchin’
