A Librarian's Perspective - Getting Your Book on the Shelves!

A Librarian's Perspective - Getting Your Book on the Shelves!

Your book is complete, bound, and back from the printers. How do you get a self-published book onto the shelves at the library?

Kimberly Knight, a selection librarian in a moderately sized library system, has been approached by self-published authors to purchase or add gratis copies of their books to the library collection. Honestly, she has accepted a precious few of these offers. With limited time, budget, and shelf space in the library, she needs self-published authors to sell her on the quality, timeliness, and appeal of their work before acquiring it for the collection. From her perspective, here's what you can do to improve your chances of seeing your book on the shelf at the library.

(1) Learn about the library's Selection Policy. What are the criteria for materials to be added to the library's collection? How does the library handle gifts? Do they have what some library's call a "Local Author's Shelf"?

Most library systems have a Selection Policy. It is a guideline for what they seek to acquire for their library collections, how, and why. The policy generally speaks to the scope and goals of the collection. Often the goals include phrases like "to meet a wide spectrum of demands from a diverse population including the best quality, accurate, classic, and up-to-date materials." It often includes statements about gifts and donations. Tell us how your work fits within the selection policy. Sometimes the policy is on the library's website or available upon request.

(2) Try to get your book reviewed by a professional reviewing source. If you are not able to get the attention of a traditional reviewing journal like Publisher's Weekly or Library Journal, be prepared to tell the selector where they might read about your work. A website like BOOKS OF SOUL could help.

Selection librarians rely heavily on reviews of books from professional journals to aid in our selection. (Books that have been hot in the media or from established authors can be an exception to this rule.) Last year, my library system purchased thousands of books. For every book we purchased, there were at least 3 or 4 we decided against. These were just the items that came to our attention! There is simply no time for each selector to read completely and personally critique each book. That's where professional reviews come in. Reviewers are often professional librarians, authors, and other literary experts, who read the entire book, write a short synopsis, point out its strengths and weaknesses, and often compare it to other works in that genre or subject area. While selection librarians know that the ultimate decision is ours, we read reviews closely to get insight into the quality of the literature we acquire for the collections.

Unfortunately for the self-published author, the books that are most often distributed to reviewers are those from traditional publishers. When a selection librarian is contacted directly, it can feel like we are being asked to serve as agent, reviewer, and/or marketer-roles that fall outside our responsibility to authors. If you do track us down, you may get lucky to find a professional reviewer in that person who has the time to read extra material! More than likely, you'll find a librarian who will ask where your work was reviewed or where they can read more about your book. Again, a review on a site like Books of Soul could help.

(3) Be prepared to give a no-strings attached copy to the selector. If we can, we will try to get that material back to you. However, most likely it will get in line behind all of the other review copies we're reading and considering. If we choose not to select your book, it might find a home through the Friends of the Library book sale. If we do add it to the collection, most likely it will be subject to our regular weeding guidelines. This means that if it doesn't circulate at a minimal rate within a set time period, it will be removed from the collection as with all other items in the collection. If you put stipulations how your book is to be handled, the selector is less likely to accept it.

(4) Try to have your book available through traditional library vendors. With shrinking materials budgets, many libraries rely heavily on the deep discounts afforded us by our vendors. Also, these vendors offer others services such as free shipping, covering, stickering, etc., that help libraries get books on the shelves in a timely and cost-effective manner.

(5) Never give up on getting your work picked up by a traditional publisher, if that is your goal. Generally, books from established publishing houses are taken through the initial editor or agent selection. Then, the books are edited, fact-checked; mock-ups are made for review, and marketed. These are the books that are most often reviewed for professional journals and get the attention of libraries and booksellers. With persistence, this could be your work.

Until that day, be prepared before contacting a library selector. When you call me, let me know you're aware of the Selection Policy and how your work fits within it. Be prepared to point me to a trustworthy review of your work by a knowledgeable third party. Let me know how your work has been edited and marketed. Why will the library patrons want to check it out? At the end of the day, we will have done our best selection if we acquire informative, interesting, books that check out rather than sit on the shelves-no matter how they were penned or published!

Kimberly Knight received her M.L.I.S. degree at UCLA. She has worked as a Children's Librarian in Los Angeles and the D.C. Metro area for 10 years. Currently, she is a Youth Services Collection Development Specialist in the D.C. Metro Area.

Eric Brasley is the founder of Books of Soul website - http://www.booksofsoul.com

The free site is dedicated to authors and poets to showcase their interest in African American culture and African peoples and issues. "In doing so, we think readers, publishers, agents, reviewers, librarians - everyone involved in the publishing industry - will find the site a valuable resource."

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/expert/Eric_Brasley/127119

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/1621012

_(By Eric Brasley).