America's 123,000 libraries fall into four basic types: Public, School, Academic, and Special (armed forces, government, corporate). Like bookstores, most libraries purchase content from book vendors like Ingram rather than directly from publishers. So right off the bat, if your book isn’t in a library vendor catalog, you are behind the curveball.
Vendors work with libraries to create profiles that fit the type of content the library wants in its collection. Read on for guidance and tips to help optimize your title for the library market.
Libraries Require Good Book Metadata
Good book metadata is crucial for selling to bookstores, and librarians are just as demanding. Here are the must-haves for your book to even be considered for purchase by a library:
-- Cover Image - a good cover image is essential
-- BISAC Subjects - Make sure you are using accurate and age appropriate BSIAC subjects. For example, if your title is a Juvenile title, the BISACs should also be for a Juvenile audience.
-- Book Descriptions - Make sure you have a great book description that clearly explains what your book is about and includes the major themes and topics.
-- Age and Grade Ranges – For titles targeting Juvenile and Young Adult audiences, make sure you have appropriate age and grade ranges. The intended audience should be based on comprehension level.
-- Regional Information – is the book about a specifc place or is the author from a specific geographic location? Providing this information allows libraries to find books about a specific destination or from local authors.
-- Book Series Information - If your book is part of a series, make sure you have that info included in your metadata and that it is consistent across all books in the series.
-- Affiliations - Author affiliations are particularly important in the academic world—if a professor at University X writes a book, chances are high for course adoption or at least that the library will purchase a few copies. Many library profiles feature an inclusion list of affiliated authors which is generally a mixture of authors who are current or past faculty members, or who write about a certain place.
Importance of Reviews
For both public and academic libraries, decisions to purchase are typically based on professional reviews that librarians recognize and value. So getting a positive review in a publication that both vendors and libraries recognize is really critical to getting your book purchased by libraries.
Below is a list of the top library review media, their audience, and circulation as well as a link to their sites so you can see their submission guidelines if you’re interested in submitting your forthcoming book for review. Keep in mind that many of these publications require submission prior to publication.
- Booklist: Adult and Youth | Circulation: 80,000 print; 160,000 online
- Library Journal: Adult | Circulation: 100,000
- Library Journal Self-e program: Adult and Youth self-published eBooks
- Publishers Weekly and PW Children’s: Adult and Youth | Circulation: 25,000
- School Library Journal: Youth titles | Circulation: 33,000 print; 44,000 online
- Voice of Youth Advocates (VOYA): Young Adult | Circulation: 7,000
- Choice Magazine: Academic | Circulation: 22,000 librarians and faculty
- The Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books: Youth | Circulation: 2,000
- Horn Book: Youth | Circulation: 13,000
- Kirkus Reviews: Adult and Youth | Circulation: 3,000 print
Like bookstores, many public and even academic libraries now offer writing and publishing workshops to their local community of writers and students. If your local library offers such a program, this would be a great opportunity for you to take part and learn what librarians know about publishing.
Ideally, you should be both a patron of your local library as well as a customer of your local bookstore prior to publishing your first book. If you’re not already, consider joining your library’s friends group and volunteering.
If your library doesn’t offer writing workshops, you might suggest that they take part in Indie Author Day. On this day, libraries from all over North America will host their own local author events featuring Q&A with writers, agents, and other industry leaders. Learn more here.
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