Is library distribution in your book’s future?

By Amy Collins

As we turn our attention to back to school and stores fill up with autumn displays, this is a great time to create and launch your plans to get library distribution for the rest of 2017 and into 2018.

Most librarians are looking for books like yours — presuming it’s a good book. According to the Public Library Association 2016 survey of more than 5,800 librarians, more than 90 percent said they do buy print-on-demand – POD – and self-published books.

Library budgets are up

Unlike a lot of the market, budgets and traffic at public libraries are increasing. Budgets for book purchases have been increasing for the past three years according to the Library Journal and American Library Association Materials Survey. And, the Public Library Association reports that foot traffic at public libraries has increased 6.5 percent over the past year.

Smart authors and publishers are using this steady growth to find new readers and increase their sales. Libraries attract avid, enthusiastic readers, making them the best place for these rabid book fans to find their next favorite author (you?).

Library book purchases are almost always non-returnable. What’s more, getting books onto the shelves of the almost 12.000 public libraries is an amazing way to promote your book to the most sought after readers in the world.

Library distribution can be profitable for you

But it’s more than placement and marketing for authors. Libraries are incredibly profitable. They buy books and share book information with other branches that will then buy even more of your books. Paperbacks are the most popular format, but e-books and audiobooks are growing at a wonderful rate.

According to the Library Journal and American Library Association Materials Survey for 2017, money budgeted for book and material purchases rose 3.7 percent. Over half of the responding libraries—58 percent—budgeted an increase in materials dollars.

Here are the budget and population breakdowns for 2016. (Learn more in Library Journal’s Materials Survey results article.)

Media materials purchases and borrow rates are going up, with downloadable e-books leading the way.

Popular categories

It’s not just the format of the book or e-book that librarians are looking for. The order of the top 10 fiction genres has remained constant over the past three years. Mystery, general fiction, and romance still lead the pack. (Not at all coincidentally, those are some of the top e-book categories across all sales channels in the industry.) Cooking and biography/memoir were the top categories in 2014, 2015, and again in 2016.

Do you know how to sell to libraries?

It’s time to stop merely thinking about getting your book into libraries and start creating your public library plan so you’ve got library distribution.

The key to getting onto their shelves is understanding what librarians are looking for. It’s important to understand that:

1. Libraries license e-books (which means repeat income).
2. Libraries will buy books from self-published and indie authors (which means this lucrative market is open to all).

Watch the free video training on how to sell to libraries and discover:

• The types of books libraries buy the most in both fiction and nonfiction.
• Why you don’t have to be a best-seller to get your book into libraries.
• The “tipping point” where your library sales go viral and your library book sales spread like wildfire.
• The step-by-step process involved with getting your book into libraries.
• How to discover who’s in charge of buying books at your local library.
• When you should call your local librarian to talk and what you should say to get them to buy your book.
• Ways to create local demand for your book, which is absolutely key to your success.

Don’t miss out on this lucrative market. If you’ve got a good book, it deserves to be in libraries so you can reach, help, and entertain more people.

Is your book available in libraries? If you’re self-published, what’s the most important thing you did to get it there? 

Are you a self-published author who’s participating at a library? What do you have planned?

Whether you’re indie or not, involved with your local library’s celebration or not, you can still participate. There’s a live webcast that day at 2 p.m. Eastern featuring a panel discussion with agents, authors, and industry experts. To watch, click “Watch the live webcast” on the Indie Author Day site.

Planning for next year’s Indie Author Day

What can you do if your library isn’t participating this year? (Mine isn’t either.) Here are three things you can do now for next year:

• Visit your library in person this week and ask them to follow what others are doing this Saturday so they become more informed. They can get a list of participating libraries on the site’s “Where?” page.
• Offer to meet with your library to brainstorm ideas for an event next year. Be enthusiastic; help them understand how important their support is to local authors.
• Rally other local indie authors and start discussing a proposal you can submit next year for an event that will help give local self-published authors more well-deserved exposure.

Learn more at IndieAuthorDay.com.

Are you participating with your local library this Saturday? Tell us how so you inspire those who hope to join in next year.

SELF-e Select curates self-published/indie books for libraries so that librarians know which books are worth adding to their lending collections. Here are a few links with more information:

• Library Journal‘s press release announcing the program
• The SELF-e FAQ page explaining that even if your book isn’t selected as one that gets recommended, you can still add it to a statewide database of available self-published books
• A guest blog post by publishing consultant Porter Anderson with specifics on the program, which Anderson is paid to promote

The author who contacted me was debating what to do because authors aren’t paid for self-published books that libraries select through the SELF-e program.

Should you offer your book to libraries for free?

Here’s what I told her.

Because authors aren’t paid for books selected, SELF-e seems like an option for an author with a backlist.

Applying the strategy for e-book giveaways (be sure to read the comments on one of our most popular guest blog posts, “Why you shouldn’t give your book away“), offer your first book free to libraries only after you have four or five published already. Once readers sample your work, they are more likely to buy more of what you write or ask libraries to carry your subsequent books because they’ll know what they’re getting.

With the “no royalty” option limited to your first book and demand for subsequent books you’ve written increasing, libraries are more likely to buy subsequent books through the only channel you’ve made available for those books — the one that pays you a royalty.

Options for selling to libraries

If the no-royalty option isn’t a good fit for your book, you’ve got other ways to get into libraries.

ebooksareforever is a new service that charges libraries the same price that you charge consumers. The site says that libraries will own the e-books they buy and will have easy access to as many copies as they need so more than one patron can borrow a title at the same time.

Three things to note:

1. This service is still in beta mode, so rules and procedures could change.
2. Once you register on the site as an author, the company “will review your books and back catalog, and promptly approve or deny your application.” (After applying five days ago, I still haven’t heard from them about mine.)
3. Authors are paid a 70 percent royalty.

Simply put, just because you want to use this service to get your e-book into libraries doesn’t mean you can.

There’s a do-it-yourself option, too. I’ve taken Elaine Wilke’s e-course that teaches you “How to Get Your Book and E-Books into Libraries” and particularly like that it includes a database of U.S. public libraries, but the insider tips from librarians are really helpful, too. My affiliate link at Udemy will save you $30 on the course fee and get you free access to Elaine’s other course, “Let Siri Save Time, Boost Productivity & Keep You Organized” (regular price $39).

(Pro tip from Elaine’s DIY course: Librarians like it when you’ve got some buzz going for your book. That includes reviews and media interviews.)

What’s the best move for you?

In the end, it all comes down to your goals. Do you need to earn money from the book to help pay off publishing expenses? Do you  want to build a fan base for subsequent books? Will getting it to as many readers as possible boost your speaking or consulting career?

Always take your goals — and nobody else’s — into account when making book marketing decisions. Blindly doing what another author is doing without thinking about what’s best for you and your future could take you in the wrong direction.

And that’s what I told the author who contacted me to take into account before she made a decision. Only she knows the answer to the question: “What will help you reach your goals for this book?”

Do you want to get your book into libraries? Why or why not? Please share your thoughts in a comment.