We asked our fellow Ingram colleague Joyce Skokut, Director of Library Collection Development for some insight and advice that we could share with indie authors on how best to get their books
onto library shelves, and this is what she told us.
Here are some insights and advice for indie authors in how best to get their book
onto library shelves.
Joyce graciously met with the IngramSpark team to offer some insights and sage advice for indie authors in how best to get their book
onto library shelves.
Some of you may know that I am celebrating the unboxing of the Mireau family treasures
onto library shelving that travels most of the length of my new house.
Not exact matches
But there are ways to use reading as a system of creating a mental
library, and after a few years, it becomes easy to slot papers
onto your mental
shelves.
Of course, one of the challenges today is that only a fraction of independently published content is making its way
onto the
shelves or databases of
libraries, even academic content written by scholars in their field.
IngramSpark is the go - to distributor for Indies and small publishing houses because, unlike CreateSpace, it is not in direct competition with the bookstores and
libraries that order through them, which increases the likelihood of getting a physical book
onto store
shelves.
Since some reports note that up to 1,000,000 new titles are published EVERY YEAR (add that to everything that's already in print), the chances of any new self published title making its way
onto the
shelves of a physical, large chain bookstore (or
library for that matter) are extremely slim... regardless of whether it does or does not have a spine title or proper bar code.
What's more, getting books
onto the
shelves of the almost 12.000 public
libraries is an amazing way to promote your book to the most sought after readers in the world.
Spend a little time each day promoting your book
onto the
shelves of stores,
libraries, and online retailers.
ARCs are also sent to bookstores and
libraries ahead of the book's release date as a way to get the book
onto their
shelves once it's released.
They advertise, they get their books
onto prominent
shelves in bookstores and
libraries nationwide, they have a system that gets many of their books reviewed in magazines and newspapers with wide circulation or websites with the most hits — they have coverage in all sorts of ways.
The installation is a labyrinthic arrangement of furniture objects — such as hospital curtains and the
shelves of a
library — with a projection of short looped sequences
onto walls and curtains that remind us of the tradition of the Expanded Cinema.
+ Art collectors seem to be donating their works to smaller nonprofits — think: hospitals, nursing homes, and
libraries — rather than museums, where pieces stand a greater risk to slip
onto dusty
shelves and into obscurity.
Libraries are so often seen as physical content aggregators — books
onto shelves — but less so digital content aggregators.