Home
35 items | 33 visits
Articles on self-publishing, with a particular focus on self-published books and libraries.
Updated on 2012-04-30
Created on 2010-06-04
Category: Others
URL:
-
"Interview by Lindsay Buroker, Indie Fantasy Author
Marlene Harris, technical services librarian and Chair of the ALCTS Affiliate Relations Committee.
Originally posted February 2, 2012 at http://www.lindsayburoker.com/interviews-success-stories/getting-your-self-published-book-into-the-library-tips-from-librarian-marlene-harris.
So, you want to get your self-published book and/or ebook into the library, where lots and lots of new readers can discover you. Me too! That’s why I hunted down librarian Marlene Harris for an interview. First I’ll let her introduce herself:" -
This is an extended version of my post on Digital Book World, ‘Steal This Idea’, and an outline for my upcoming talk at SXSW.
-
Must be member of IBPA, the Independent Book Publishers Association, to access article online.
-
"It's been nine months since the launch of With a Little Help, and, as with most trade books, the action has slowed down. All in all, the book has earned me $2,231.23 over the summer and cost me $167.88 in costs.
Since I last checked in, I've sold a moderate number of print-on-demand books from Amazon (69), a small number from Lulu (14), and brought in a moderate stream of donations ($568 from 43 donors, equal to the royalties from about 280 paperbacks). I'm selling about one limited edition hardcover a month, and each one nets me about $160, depending on postage. The net income now stands at $17,146.46-better than I've earned from my other two short story collections combined. However, this one's been a lot more work!
...What's next? For some months, my PW editor, Andrew Albanese, has been telling me that I'm crazy not to pitch the book to libraries. He's right. Libraries love me, and it's mutual. I spend a lot of time touring libraries, I speak at ALA and several regional libraries, I lobby alongside professional librarian associations, and I worked at libraries through high school. So, yeah, I should be selling to libraries. But how?
I tapped Tor, the publisher of my novels, for advice. Throughout this experiment, Tor has been remarkably generous with advice and help, and this was no exception. Talia Sherer, Macmillan's library sales director, directed me to several librarians, and I tapped each of them. They were warm, and helpful, and blindingly organized about delivering advice.
The most important thing I learned? It costs libraries significant time and labor to set up accounts with new vendors. Even though Amazon can handle library orders, it's not widely used, and a library would have to really, really want With a Little Help on its shelves to go through the trouble of adding a new vendor. So if I wanted this book to show up in libraries, I'd have to sell it where librarians shop—somewhere like Ingram.
I spent all summer chasing down Ingram's print-on-demand program, Lightning Source. It's by far the most cumbersome of all the POD programs I've tried to set up. But after three months, Ingram has now listed the book in its catalogue. And I've just finished an interview with ALA's Booklist announcing the book's availability, and many librarians have offered to help spread the word through their mailing lists." -
"Reviews and more from the world of the Kindle" -- From Valerie Hawkins, ALA Library: A now rather infamous exchange between a reviewer and an author of a self-published e-book. Such books are usually not reviewed by the major review magazines and journals, and therefore are fortunate to attract solid, informational reviews in some kind of independent and reliable forum, whether print or online. Reviews are a necessary qualification to being considered for a library collection. A fair, well-written review from a book review blog can still bring the author one step closer to being purchased for the library's patrons. In any case, authors communicating with reviewers can be a risky proposition, even if it's just a brief, innocent appreciation for the review; the interaction can be misconstrued. Choosing to publicly respond to a review by berating the reviewer and insisting the review be removed from public view and cursing at the blog's readers is not recommended -- especially if the review was highly favorable but mentioned the author's shortcomings regarding spelling and grammar and the highly defensive responses from the author include similar spelling and grammar errors.
-
Publishers Weekly (PW) announced today the creation of a quarterly supplement listing self-published materials called PW Select, which will also include reviews. Listings in the issue will cost $149, though review choice will remain at the discretion of the PW editorial staff.
Issues for libraries -- Self-published books can be a sticky issue for libraries, even more so as the number of self-published titles skyrockets in comparison to output from "traditional" publishing houses. Meanwhile, self-publishing platforms have grown in sophistication and distribution reach, while self-published books are regularly listed by online retailers like Amazon.
Often, libraries are required to justify purchases with independent evaluations of the materials acquired for collections. For example, the Salem Public Library in Virginia states in its collection development policy that "[i]n most cases, the library will not purchase self-published materials that are not reviewed in established review journals," mirroring the language of many other libraries' policies. -
By Susan Gibberman, Head of Reader Services, Schaumburg Township District Library and RWA's 2008 Librarian of the Year
-
Must be member of IBPA, the Independent Book Publishers Association, to access article online.
-
Must be member of IBPA, the Independent Book Publishers Association, to access article online.
-
Must be member of IBPA, the Independent Book Publishers Association, to access article online.
-
Must be member of IBPA, the Independent Book Publishers Association, to access article online.
List Comments
(0)
List Info
Sponsored Links
Ads by Google