Authors who need help selling their books should start looking close to home, at the one place where books are free: their local libraries.
When I speak at writers’ conferences, I hear authors complaining that they don’t want to be bothered with selling to a library “where hundreds of people might read my book for free.” Or they whine that libraries “don’t want self-published books.”
Are they kidding?
First, libraries are marketing machines. They do all the heavy lifting and help you gain exposure, generate publicity and pull crowds. Some readers in those crowds buy books.
Patrons Want Indie Books
As for indie titles, a survey of patron profiles by Library Journal found that at least 6 out of 10 patrons want self-published books to be available in their libraries. Librarians listen!
Knowing who’s who at your local library and asking how you can help them, so they can in turn help you, is just one of the many ideas I’ll share I shared on Thursday, Feb. 12, during the webinar on Book Publicity Ideas You Can Use Today to Sell More Books Tomorrow.
Here are 7 ways libraries can help you sell more books.
1. They’ll host a book signing or event.
Libraries aren’t beneath New York Times best-selling author Lesley Kagen. She did a book signing at the small Grafton Public Library near my town last week to promote her book, The Resurrection of Tess Blessing. She and I live in the same county so it was close to home for her.
Big-name authors can usually negotiate an honorarium, transportation, hotel and meal costs if they’re traveling. Libraries are meticulous about these details.
If you aren’t a big-name author, and you’re appearing for free, you might sell only three books. But that’s three books more than you sold yesterday.
Here’s a long list of publicity, programming and promotion tips for author visits, created by the Association for Library Service to Children, a division of the American Library Association. It’s proof libraries love hosting authors.
2. They’ll let local newspapers know about your event.
I saw a photo of Lesley Kagen’s book signing in my local newspaper, The Ozaukee Press, last week. On the same page, I saw a calendar item about another local author who’s doing a book signing at the same library.
3. Libraries will often use the local Chamber of Commerce’s website and contacts to publicize your event.
Here’s what the Grafton chamber put on its homepage to promote Lesley’s library appearance:
4. They look elsewhere in the community for help marketing your event.
Your library might contact other community groups, businesses and neighboring libraries that might be interested in collaborating. Have you written a book about how to make household repairs? A local hardware store might love to partner with the library and host you.
5. Friends of the Library can work with you.
These are the fundraising arms of libraries and they often sponsor luncheons and other events.
They need speakers and interesting programs. (Hint: More publicity!)
6. Local libraries will feature you prominently everywhere.
You’ll show up in their newsletter, at their website, on their Facebook page, and on flyers around town. Many libraries also submit calendar notices to the local TV station’s public access channel.
7. Librarians share tips with other librarians about which authors are great presenters and make their jobs easy.
In addition to the American Library Association, librarians are members of statewide and regional industry groups. Librarians know how to network!
Have I convinced you that you need to run, walk or drive to your local library today?
During Thursday’s webinar on Book Publicity Ideas You Can Use Today to Sell More Books Tomorrow, I’ll share a tip on how indie authors who write ebooks can take advantage of a free program that will market your ebooks to public libraries all over the U.S. When I stumbled on this, I thought I’d struck gold.
What other ways can libraries help authors sell books? Librarians, what have you done? And what do you recommend authors do to form strong relationships with you?
If you’re looking for more tips about how to generate free publicity, check out my popular Pinterest board 50 Tips for Free Publicity. I pin often.
What do I pin?
The same types of tips you see in the blue and white image on the left. Be sure to join the more than 3,000 Publicity Hounds who follow the board so you don’t miss a thing.
Thank you very much for this article. In a very short time, I will self-publish a non-fiction book that I’ve been working on for nearly three years (I still work full time, so…). And it’s so good to hear that my local library is such a treasure trove of publicity. I’m definitely going to look into this after my book is published. I also look forward to speaking at the library and other venues, not only for the publicity, but to let the public know of my book’s message.
I give you credit for writing an ebook while working fulltime. That isn’t easy. Good luck and have fun on the publishing journey, Jane.
Certainly a library should be a good place to start but just one note to your post. The larger the library “system” the better. It’s been my experience that small town libraries with only one branch actually do not want more books. Most use a committee to decide which new books will get their very limited shelf space, even when donated by a home town author willing to help put a spotlight the library. The larger the system, the better.
Stephen, you’re right. Bigger library systems offer so many more opportunities for speakers. Thanks for stopping by.