If as an author your goal is to
reach readers, you want your books to be in libraries. In fact, much of what
happens in the new digital marketplace is a revamping of what libraries have
been offering for ages: no-cost book sampling; a discovery point for readers to
find books and authors they love; and book borrowing as one finds it in
programs like Amazon Prime.
Librarians help readers discover
books, but how do librarians themselves find the books they’ll acquire? Much
depends on the type of library and the librarian’s role within the
organization. From a session I attended at a recent conference, some general
tips for authors and publishers:
·
Via web searches and telephone queries, find out
who’s in charge of collection development/acquisitions at the libraries where
you’d like to see your books. Invite these librarians to subscribe to your
newsletter. (Need we say it? Don’t spam them.)
·
Besides the standard review journals (Kirkus,
Publishers Weekly, Booklist, Library Journal), librarians pay attention to book
buzz on social media. They also use search engines to check the general chatter
around a particular title.
·
Scheduling library events can be a great way to
help librarians become familiar with your book. Keep in mind, though, that a
library’s charged with serving the public, not selling your books. Therefore,
your event should have a hook that will interest readers. Another suggestion:
propose a multi-author event.
·
Check your metadata (everything about the book
that’s not content). It must be precise and focused not merely on end readers,
but on the people who are trying to get your book into the right places. Even
something as simple as an unintended space in your metadata entry could mean
your book won’t be found.
·
Make sure your book is entered properly in the
Library of Congress. If your release is through a small publisher, the PCN
system must be used (larger publishers use one called CIP). The PCN record can
only be created before the book is produced. The Library of Congress number
generated should then be added to the book’s copyright page. The resulting
record is called a MARC record. Librarians can also create a MARC record once a
book is released, but the process is cumbersome and errors may happen.
·
If you have other titles, you might also check
the Worldcat database to find which libraries have them; these would be most
likely to purchase a subsequent title.
·
Overall, the consensus of this panel was that
the most effective methods for reaching librarians are the ones that cost only
time. Aggregated fliers in which authors and publishers buy ad space are more
likely to be overlooked than a newsletter from an author or small press that
has cultivated a relationship with a particular librarian.
·
Write a good book. If anything about it is
sloppy, it’s unlikely a librarian will want it in her collection.