There is a heartwarming story about an 8-year-old boy from Idaho who snuck a book he had written into his local library. Crismis, an 81 page comic, so charmed the librarians that they made it available to borrow, and it became a runaway hit.
As a self-published author, getting your book into libraries can seem like an intimidating feat. So if the thought of walking up to your local librarian with a copy of your book clutched in your sweaty hand brings you out in hives, then be reassured that there are better ways than following the lead of the little boy from Idaho.
That said, there are still a considerable number of hoops to jump through. As someone who has done this for my own books (for the UK), I thought it would therefore help other self-publishers to take you step by step through the exact process I went through.
The Basics
First of all, it should go without saying that if your book is to sit on the same shelf as the Stephen Kings and the John Grishams, it should look the part. I will therefore assume that you have taken all possible steps — cover design, editing, formatting, etc — to make your book appear a professional product.
Print Distribution
Next, you need to make sure that your book is available through the right channels. Some libraries are not fans of Amazon, and they may baulk at your offer of hand delivering author-bought copies to their issue desk. The best way to proceed is to identify how your country’s libraries generally buy their books. In the UK, each county or local authority will order centrally for all its libraries using Askews & Holts. For British authors, the good news is that if you print and distribute your book through Ingram Spark (as many self-publishers do) then this will also make you available through Askews & Holts, as well as Gardners (the other main book distributor in the UK). It will also make you available through some of the suppliers to libraries in Northern Ireland and Eire (the Republic of Ireland).
If you have other methods by which you print and distribute your books, then by all means offer that to the libraries as a purchase option, especially if you can offer a greater discount that way (for instance, I use Bookvault for bulk printing and delivery, whom I’ve found to be excellent quality and value, and I’ve sold a few direct to libraries through this method). But discount shouldn’t be such an issue as it is with bookshops, as libraries seem happy to buy at the minimum discount that I offer through Ingram Spark (35%).
In countries outside the UK, you may find that libraries favour different distributors. In the US, I believe most libraries use Baker & Taylor. Getting into their catalogue is a bit of a hassle, as it may require using one of their approved distributors for printing, warehousing and distribution services (you can email them for a list of these), which is obviously more costly.
Ebooks and Audiobooks
You should be aware that libraries also purchase ebooks and audiobooks. For this, I would recommend Draft2Digital (for ebooks) and Findaway Voices (for audio). This will not only make you available to a range of online book marketplaces, but also the main library distributors for digital content (such as Overdrive, Hoopla, Borrowbox, etc).
ISBNs and Imprints
There are a number of good reasons for a self-publisher to own their own ISBNs. If you’ve published through Amazon using one of their free ISBNs, then technically they are the publisher, for you cannot thereafter use the same ISBN anywhere else (and the same title with different ISBNs is just a bibliographic mess). Amazon’s “expanded distribution” is also not as good as Ingram Spark’s, as they are widely hated by bookshops! So you’re better off going with Ingram Spark or someone more established (and liked) by traditional booksellers and libraries. In some countries (e.g. Canada), ISBNs are free, but in others (US, UK), they are quite costly, though you can save money if you buy in bulk.
Another benefit of owning your own ISBNs is that you can pitch yourself more professionally by creating your own imprint (I’ll come back to this later). This isn’t something that requires jumping through a lot of legal loopholes or setting up your own company (at least, not in the UK), and when entering your book’s data with the ISBN supplier (Nielsen in the UK, Bowker in the US) you simply state that it is published by “[insert imprint name here]”. This is just a name you’ve dreamed up (be careful you don’t infringe on anyone else’s imprints or trademarks). You can even create your own logo. My own imprint is WoodPig Press.
Metadata
One other hoop that you may have to jump through is to provide bibliographic data (a book’s metadata). This is simply detailed information about your book — its formats, physical size, price, subject categories, etc — that helps libraries to more accurately catalogue your book. In the UK, the main company for this is Bibliographic Data Services, where you can easily upload the metadata for each title via their online form. This provides you with a Library MARC Record. In the US, this is a bit more difficult for self-publishers, and those looking to distribute via Baker & Taylor should check whether MARC records can be created by any of B&T’s recommenced services and distributors.
The Pitch
So, you’ve got a decent quality book, you’ve published it, set up your metadata, researched your distribution channels, and you’re ready to approach your first library.
Firstly, find a point of contact. Libraries are public services, so there will usually be an email address, contact form, phone number, or social media account whereby you can make an initial inquiry (I’ve contacted quite a few via Twitter and Facebook). In the UK, as I said, library purchases are done centrally by county — you can find a complete list here, and here for the US.
Once you find an initial point of contact, you just want to say something like this:
Dear [library service],
I’m an author. Is there someone responsible for stock purchases that I could speak to regarding the possibility of purchasing some of my books for your library catalogue?
And that’s it.
Sometimes they’ll respond with a name and an email address, sometimes they’ll offer to forward your request on to the person responsible, at other times you’ll be directed to an online book suggestion form. All of these have worked for me.
Once you have an email address for the stock buyer, or someone to forward your pitch, try to keep things brief (they’re busy people and they’ve heard it all before). The main things to mention are:
If you are a local (or local-ish) author — libraries love that — or if your book has any connection to the area;
The type of thing you write (e.g. thriller, self-help) and any credentials you have (award winning, best selling, local celebrity, etc) — but keep it brief and professional (you can always add a link to your website where they can learn more about you);
A brief blurb for each book, together with its ISBN, stating whether they are stand-alone or part of a series, any nice review quotes you’ve garnered (or a link to a page with more about the books/some reviews);
What type of readers the books will appeal to (e.g. fans of historical fiction, or readers of Stephen King);
That your books are available through “the usual distribution channels” (and mention some of them — e.g. Askews & Holts, Baker & Taylor) — and don’t forget ebooks and audiobooks (e.g. Hoopla and Overdrive).
The one thing you don’t have to mention is that the books are self-published. Some librarians are sniffy about this, and most are inundated by crass and pushy requests from self-publishers. So, simply don’t mention it. If you have an imprint, then say (e.g.) published by (or available from) [whatever your imprint name is]. You are not lying, and there is nothing to be ashamed of. Some books are wonderful, others are awful — and this applies as much to traditional publishing as it does to self-publishing. So you are simply allowing the quality of your book to speak for itself without triggering any presuppositions the librarian may harbour.
Some authors advise that you should create a PDF or Word document with all of your pitch details and add it as an attachment to your email inquiry. I don’t recommend this, as library email systems may strip out the attachment or be more likely to flat it as spam. An alternative to this would be to create a webpage containing all relevant info and link to that. But again, this asks the librarian to click away and do something else (and there’s many a slip between cup and lip!), so I prefer just to put most of the salient stuff in the body of the email itself and reserve links for any extra info that might possibly help but isn’t essential (author bio, reviews, etc).
Additional Extras
The beauty of public libraries is that (generally speaking) their catalogues are also public, and therefore searchable by anyone. If you’re a self-publisher who’s come from traditional publishing, then this gives you an advantage, as during your pitch you can use that as leverage — e.g., “I see that your library already stocks some of my titles. I wonder if you would also be interested in…”
A month or two after your pitch (or even longer…), you can check the catalogue to see if the library has purchased any copies — they won’t always tell you if they have (sometimes they don’t even reply, and then just go ahead and buy copies anyway — librarians are very busy, remember). If you notice that they have purchased copies, contact them again to thank them and ask if they would like you to write something for their newsletter or blog (if they have one) to help promote the books. Here’s a piece I did for Pen to Print, a writing project run by Barking and Dagenham libraries in London.
You could also offer to give a talk, run a workshop, etc — anything that engages the community , as libraries are big fans of community engagement. Obviously, don’t expect payment for any of this! But it’s a great way of networking, and who knows where that might lead…
Summary
The big takeaway from all of this is that, as daunting as it may seem, getting your book into libraries can be done if you take your time and follow the above steps. You may have to do some research and jump through a few hoops, but it’s not as hard as you think. And better than sneaking your book onto the shelf.
All Things Self-Publishing is a series of occasional articles that covers … all things self-publishing! Formatting your book, creating a cover, choosing a publishing platform, marketing and advertising, getting into libraries and bookshops – I share my free lessons, tips, mistakes and (mis)adventures from my years as a writer, professional illustrator and book designer. If you have a question, correction or suggestion, please leave a comment and I’ll respond.