Q: By what process(es) do books get onto library shelves?
Tags: books, evangelism, libraries, outreach
This entry was posted on 2010.09.18, 12:19pm and is filed under Church Planting. You can follow any responses to this entry through RSS 2.0. Both comments and pings are currently closed.
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#1 by Stephen Simons on 2010.09.18 - 1:22pm
Generally through trade channels. Get your book reviewed by several reviewers (the bigger the better) within the trade, typically before the street date of the first publication (while you are still in galleys) and then get your book into the book trade shows targeting libraries. Use direct mail or other marketing to promote your book to as many libraries as possible. And then get as many people as possible to request a copy at their local libraries and follow up by checking it out once it is part of the collection. With over 300,000 new titles being published every year, library shelf space is now an incredibly precious commodity that is mostly managed by consumer demand with a bias to following the general trade in stocking best-sellers and other titles that are guaranteed high-use items for the libraries. If your book is well positioned in the trade (reviewed in key outlets, selling through in bookstores, etc) and you can drive persistent consumer demand for it in the library system, you won’t have a problem getting on or staying on library shelves.