How Smart Authors Get Their Books into Libraries

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Do you want to get your books into libraries, but don’t know how to do it? Get here the background info from librarians – and which library suppliers and aggregators are the best for author-publishers!

I read an article by Nate Hoffelder where he curated: “Why Librarians Don’t Want Your Self-Published Book”.  For sure a catchy title that gets author’s attention! It was first used by Librarian Molly Wetta on her “Wrapped up in Books blog post.
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Librarians are NOT Resisting Self-published Books
They are just facing tight constraints on both, their time (to purchase books) and budget.  And they are bound by certain procedures.  Including a book, for example, requires to have existing records ready to add to the library’s catalog.
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Librarian Molly Wetta Explains:
“Self-published books might not be available from the library’s main vendor, who has to do a number of tasks to make the book ready to be shelved in a library (a protective cover, property stamps, stickers to identify the proper location of the item, etc.).  This is as an extra step if it is purchased by a different vendor – and that’s only if the policies allow the library to do that in the first place (sometimes a library is restricted to specific vendors).”

“Even when librarians want to buy a self-published book, they are still constrained by a limited budget.  Books need to be in DEMAND and of great QUALITY.  This certainly applies to all books, and not just self-published, but the latter are often more difficult to quantify.”

“It’s not that librarians are completely unwilling to buy self-published books, it’s just that the systems aren’t in place yet to make it easy to evaluate the quality and to efficiently bring them to patrons.”

Another Librarian and Book Purchaser Commented:
“I make a special note to go into the self-published section of the Overdrive marketplace and locate some gems.  It appears as if the full Smashwords catalog is not immediately available in the OverDrive Marketplace – as I find the faceted searching very basic and apt to yield similar results.  However, as a librarian, if there is a title you know of, but can’t find, you can place a request to have it added.  Make sure you have a great cover. We will only purchase books whose covers can sit well next to ‘published’ titles.  Also, the better the price, the more copies I will buy if the title is in demand.”
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Who Supplies Books to Libraries?
OverDrive, Draft2DigitaleBooksAreForever, Quality Books Inc., IngramUniqueBooks, eBookPartnership, Bibliotheca, Baker&Taylor
are the main suppliers for libraries.

https://www.baker-taylor.com/OverDrive, for example, initially isolated self-published books in a “ghetto”, separating books from Smashwords, from others.  As an author, you might see your own book, uploaded from Smashwords on their library list, but librarians who have different pages to order books, don’t see them.

As a librarian explained in a comment:
“The e-books from Smashwords are still separated from other e-books and placed in a ghetto along with e-books from Author Solutions…  This happens in the backend site that librarians use to purchase material – not the website library users/readers or authors – have access to.  Librarians looking to purchase ebooks from Smashwords have to know what they are looking for because they are in a separate catalog and can’t be found through a regular search.
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The Problem with OverDrive / Smashwords
“Both are not even remotely solving this first large hurdle to getting self-publishers into libraries.  It has little to do with tiers or the self-publishing ghetto, but much more to do with the fact that roughly 200,000 titles were dumped into Overdrive’s platform without any system in place to help librarians evaluate those titles.  It’s also worth noting that a large majority of the more successful indies bypass Smashwords altogether.”

“When librarians are purchasing ebooks from OverDrive, they are on a special website that is only available to libraries who subscribe to OverDrive.  On that site, ebooks from Smashwords are separated from the main ebook catalog in a special section that can’t be searched or browsed without going to it specifically.  This means that librarians purchasing ebooks, have to make a special effort to go there, and it isn’t intuitive to find it or use it.  There is a public version of the OverDrive catalog, and the self-published titles are integrated there, but librarians doing the purchasing aren’t using this.”
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“Self-published ebooks are available in the main purchasing catalog through Draft2Digital or eBookPartnership,  but the ones from Smashwords aren’t and never were.  This issue was never resolved because OverDrive refuses to consider it as a problem that needs resolution.“
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You certainly can make yourself more flexible in terms of organizing KDP sales promotions – place your book by yourself to all Amazon’s Kindle Stores: US, UK, France, Germany, Italy, and Spain, Brazil, Japan, India, etc.
Draft2Digital and eBookpartnership can upload it for you to Amazon as well.  There are no fees for updates to your metadata from them – which is very rare among aggregators – but you can do it faster on Amazon by yourself.
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However, you should always buy your own ISBN’s, preferably a block of ten before publishing and don’t forget to register – for free – your book worldwide with Bowker’s database, which goes to all bookstores and libraries in the world.
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Promote Your Books to Libraries
Many libraries accept purchase requests from their patrons (which can be online on their websites or in-person in the library).  Once a book is in their shelves and receives a couple dozen hold/lending requests, they will order more copies!
The minimum requirement for selling to libraries or their suppliers is certainly that you are the owner of the books ISBN (NOT from Smashwords, Amazon, etc.) and that you listed your book into the worldwide database of books in print titles at Bowkers.

And don’t forget: ALWAYS have your contact, social media sites, your book sales pages and a request for a review in your last pages of every one of your books, no matter if print or e-book!  See also The Secret of Professional Author Publishing.

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How to Demonstrate the Quality of Your Books
Aside from proofing high sales numbers, authors could put their e-books into Biblioboard’s Self-e platform, which means visibility which could lead to sales.  Maybe even paid book reviews from a legacy source (PublishersWeekly, Kirkus Book Reviews, etc) would help?  These are the ones librarians will most likely read.

Books for library use in the USA need to be registered with the Library of Congress Catalog “Books in Publication”.   A note printed on the upperleft back cover should indicate the type of book and the topic: reference/book publishing, writing/reference, history, autobiography, parenting, and so forth.  Get detailed information about registering your books (before and after the publication date) from the Library of Congress website and information about Bowker’s worldwide book listings on our blog

A note, printed on the upper left back cover of the book layout should indicate the type of book, and the topic, such as history, autobiography, writing/reference, parenting, etc.
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Local Authors Collection at Libraries
“The Greater Victoria Public Library in Victoria, BC, Canada – GVPL – started an Emerging Local Authors Collection, intended for (mostly) self-published books.  They report: “Clear guidelines were posted on the library’s website, including the geographic area where the authors live, the durability of books and the fact that one copy of each book would be donated by the author.  The books were fully cataloged and the collection was launched with an evening reception for the authors and their guests.

The books are prominently displayed at our Central Branch and have been circulating briskly.  At the end of one year, books that have proven themselves by high circulations may be added to the permanent collection.”

Writer Audrey Driscoll: “ Next spring another collection will be made available, possibly including e-books.  I am one of the authors with a book in the collection.  I sent in my application like any other local author.  I think this is a good way to showcase local authors. But it did take a considerable time for two librarians (a collections librarian and a cataloger) to make it happen.”

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Why Selling to Libraries Needs to be a Top Priority
Publishing industry expert Amy Collins lists these reasons why you should offer your books to librarians:

  • US libraries spend over 3 billion dollars each year on materials (books, magazines, e-journals), so you should consider using some of your sales and marketing time to present your book to librarians.
  • Libraries in the US are experiencing a huge surge in foot traffic. Public librarians are seeing a lot more patrons, and their check out rates are skyrocketing.
  • Fiction and Children’s books are the top categories, but non-fiction is catching up
  • Librarians want more books that drive traffic into their libraries.
    When more people come to a library, it demonstrates the need for that library in the community. As a result, budgets will go up; they will hire more staff, and everyone is happy.
  • Audiobooks and eBooks are the fastest-growing types of book purchases. Libraries spend over 25% of their budgets on ebooks and audiobook downloads.
  • Once one library has your book and the check-out rates start showing up on reports, other librarians will start ordering your book.

How you can show librarians that it is worth to order your books is explained in detail here.
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Conclusion:
Have an excellent book whose genre is in demand, which has been professionally edited, with a fantastic cover, lots of positive and professional reviews and proven sales, many people that request your book at libraries, your own ISBN, listed at the Library of Congress, listed in Bowker’s worldwide database of books, and distributed to libraries via their official distributors, and be included in the Library Journal’s curated collections, SELF-e Select.

Talk to the programming or events coordinator at your library and offer a free reading from your books or a free class for local writers where you explain to the participants the writing/publishing process – and maybe even find a couple of new readers or book buyers for your own work.

Once you have “your foot in the door” your next books will be much easier to get into libraries.  Librarians across the country have increasing consternation about e-book access as now some of the “Big Five” publishers raised their prices and conditions for libraries. Excellent self-published books might get even more often considered for library purchases. 

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