Myths And Truth About Selling to Libraries

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Imagine, you sold your $15 book at 50% discount to only 10% of the 100,000 libraries in the USA, you will earn more than $75,000. But how can you tap into the lucrative library market?  And what do you need to know about libraries before you start to offer your book to them?
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Facts About Libraries
According to statistics from the American Library Association and the Book Industry Study Group, libraries yearly purchase books for nearly $2 billion. But not only books, also audio books and other forms of publications, such as e-books.
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On the downside: Many of the more than 100,000 public, university and specialty libraries throughout the United States have been forced to scale down their budgets and have to use creative means to update their book collections. They even take advantage of online bargains through Amazon.com, eBay and discount book sites.
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Consider These Steps:

• Librarians read reviews — at least those in Library Journal and Kirkus or Publishers Weekly. It is not easy to get your book reviewed in these journals; however, it is possible. Sometimes librarians even check out the Amazon’s Bestseller Lists.
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• Ask others to request your book via the libraries website. Libraries usually take requests seriously, so it’s a great way to get them to put your book on the shelves. Ask some friends and family members to request your book.
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• Your book has to be available through major wholesalers – and it has to be available in print too.
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• Apply to work with a library distributor such as Quality Books, Ingram Distriburion or Unique Books, if you have a non-fiction book.
• Consider to sign-up for a library trade show. Publisher Organizations, such as IBPA offer co-op participation.
• Librarians prefer hardcover books and soft cover perfect-bound books with the title printed on the spine. The cover on a perfect-bound book must be sturdy. Librarians particularly like reference books. If you are writing or compiling such a non-fiction book, be sure to include an index, a bibliography and/or a resource list.
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• Books for library-use need a Library of Congress Catalog in Publication block or, for a self-published book, Publishers Catalog in Publication block and / or a listing with Bowker world wide. See also a blog post we wrote how to get your book listed for free in Bowker’s listing of available books.
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• A note, printed on the upper left back cover should indicating the type of book this is and the topic: reference/book publishing, writing/reference, history, autobiography, parenting, mystery etc.
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Try to Sell Books Directly to Libraries

To find their addresses, use  Gale’s Directory of Libraries or the Online Library Directory.
You can also buy mailing lists from a Library Marketing List. You can get listings for 25,000 university libraries or 18,000 public libraries, or 400 listings for community college libraries. Some libraries give instructions and guidelines on their websites, such as this in Tucson, Arizona: Pima County Library.
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Some libraries highlight local authors or will host regular book events like fundraisers that will accept donated books. However, you can’t just walk into a library and hope they will take your book, not even if you are giving it away! Librarians are happy to get books, but they also have constraints on what books they can accept.  One of those constraints is the written or unwritten “acquisitions policy” at each library, which is depending on what that library is collecting. Space and the high cost of storing and/or distributing their books to library patrons is another huge limitation. Time is another issue for librarians – they have little time to spend reading about books.
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Each kind of library: academic; public, school, and special, has different purposes. And they buy different kinds of books. Choose the right type for your book selling efforts. For example: Young Adult and Children’s authors: The largest library market are school libraries (grades K-12).  However, the budgets of academic libraries and public libraries are much larger than those of the typical school library.
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Send a press release to the contact name via e-mail or snail mail. Describe your book and the binding and list any amenities such as index, color photos, resource list and/or bibliography. Be sure to include all your ordering information in detail. Add a list of wholesalers / distributors that carry your book.
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Selling to libraries as an author-publisher (and signing up with book whole sale) works best when you have at least three quality print books to proof you are a serious writer .

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Promote Your Book to Libraries

• Offer a free (1 hour) class in local libraries, where you can certainly mention your book.
• Find out the dates of library trade shows and exhibit through their co-operative exhibit programs such as those offered through IBPA, the Independent Book Publishers Association.
• Consider donating a copy of your book to a few top library systems, to encourage purchases for branch libraries.

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Read Carefully the Instructions Marketing to Libraries
ALA, the American Library Association gives generous information and tips for authors and publishers,a valuable resource:

• The Library Market in General
• What Do Libraries Buy?
• How and When Do Libraries Buy?
• Reviews
• Direct Mail/Library Mailing Lists
• Connecting Authors & Libraries
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The best time to approach libraries might be in December and June (also mostly quiet months there) – as this is when they typically do their purchases. If you deliver directly to the library and not through whole sale, you may want to offer the same discount to entice them to purchase your book. And last but not least:  It’s always good to become acquainted with your local librarians and ask them for advice.

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If you would like to get help in all things publishing, have your book intensively promoted and learn how to navigate social media sites: We offer all this and more for only $179 for 3 months! Learn more about this individual book marketing help: http://www.111Publishing.com/Seminars
Or visit http://www.e-book-pr.com/book-promo/book-promo/ to advertise your new book, specials or your KDP Select Free Days.

Please check out all previous posts of this blog (there are more than 1,150 of them : ) if you haven’t already. Why not sign up to receive them regularly by email? Just click on “Follow” in the upper line on each page – and then on “LIKE” next to it. There is also the “SHARE” button underneath each article where you can submit the article to Pinterest, Google+, Twitter, Facebook, Tumblr and StumpleUpon.

Thanks a lot for following:

@111publishing
http://www.111publishing.com
http://www.e-Book-PR.com/

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http://bit.ly/VmtVAS 111Publishing @ Google+

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What Every Writer Needs to Know About Copyright

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Justitia Copyright

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It is not required for an author to register your work or even provide a notice. But… there are reasons to protect yourself and what you created.  Copyright means the sole right to produce or reproduce a work in any form. And in most countries, a work – such as literature, music or software – is automatically protected as soon as it is created. Excluded are ideas, titles, names, facts and short phrases.
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On the other side: proving your claim can be a very difficult matter without proper evidence. Often it boils down to a case of “their word against yours”. Without proper protection, work that you have created, could end up making money for someone else.
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Whenever you write something on paper or typed on a computer, it is copyrighted and protected under U.S. copyright law.  If someone steals your work and presents it as his own, the burden of proof falls on you to show that you created it first and that you own the copyright – which can be difficult.  For better protection, consider to officially register your work for approx. $45 per manuscript with the US Copyright Office.  So, if anyone steals your manuscript, you will not only have proof of copyright ownership, but  you are also able to sue for Statutory Damages and attorney fees.
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Claims in US Courts:

• If you have registered your work before infringement, you can collect Statutory Damages plus attorney fees.
• If you registered after infringement, but before filing suit, you can only sue for Actual Damages – which you have to demonstrate.
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Necessary Content of Copyright Notices in Your Book:

• The symbol © or the word “Copyright”
• The year of first publication of the work
• The name of the owner or creator
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Where to  Register?

Canada:
online to the Copyright Office, Canadian Intellectual Property Office Web site
http://www.cipo.ic.gc.ca (fee Can $50)

USA:
online to the U.S. Copyright Office, via the Library of Congress
http://www.copyright.gov (fee US $ 35)

United Kingdom:
online UK Copyright Service
http://www.copyrightservice.co.uk (online registration are £39.00 for 5 years or £64.00 for 10 years per work.)
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An attorney is not necessary at all, to register your manuscript. You can register on-line (which is cheaper) or by snail mail. Copyright registrations become effective the day on which application and payment are received at the office, but it may take months until you receive the certificate. 

Being on the Copyright Register also helps with finding you as the owner when permission to use a work is sought.  This can be very lucrative for the owner of registered copyright because they can easily be found to license their work and can charge fees/royalties for its use.  Even for succession planning it is very important to have copyright registered, as it provides the owner with an easily transferable and valuable asset.
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Check out this blog post, which gives lots of tips what to do in case copyright infringements happen.  The blogger talks about a photograph, that was unlawfully used, but for your blogs or books, the steps are the same:
http://www.jeremynicholl.com/blog/2011/06/13/the-10-rules-of-us-copyright-infringement/

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More regulatory sources for USA, Canada and the UK:
Copyright Portal
Canadian Guide to Copyright
UK Copyright Law

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If you would like to get help in all things publishing, have your book heavily promoted and learn how to navigate social media sites: We offer all this and more for only a “token” of $1 / day for 3 months. Learn more about this individual book marketing help: http://www.111Publishing.com/seminar

Please feel free to check out all previous posts of this blog (there are 780+ of them : ) if you haven’t already. Why not sign up to receive them regularly by email? Just click on “Follow” in the upper line on each page – and then on “LIKE” next to it. There is also the “SHARE” button underneath each article where you can submit the article to Pinterest, Google+, Twitter, Chime.in, Facebook, Tumblr and to StumpleUpon.

Thanks a lot for following:

@111publishing

http://on.fb.me/TvqDaK
http://bit.ly/VmtVAS 111Publishing @ Google+

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How to Sell Your Book to Libraries

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According to statistics from the American Library Association and the Book Industry Study Group, libraries yearly purchase books for nearly $2 billion. But not only books, also audio books and other forms of publications.

.
Imagine, you sold your $15 book at 50% discount to only 10% of these libraries, you will earn more than $75,000. But how can you tap into the lucrative library market?
.
On the downside: Many of the more than 100,000 public, university and specialty libraries throughout the United States have been forced to scale down their budgets and have to use creative means to update their book collections. They even take advantage of online bargains through Amazon.com, eBay and discount book sites.

.

Create a Library-Quality Book

• Librarians read reviews — at least those in Library Journal and Kirkus. It is not easy to get your book reviewed in these journals; however, it is possible.
  .
• Your book has to be available through major wholesalers.
  .
• Apply to work with a library distributor such as Quality Books or Unique Books, if you have a nonfiction book.
  .
• Librarians prefer hardcover books and soft cover perfect-bound books with the title printed on the spine. The cover on a perfect-bound book must be sturdy. Librarians particularly like reference books. If you are writing or compiling such a non-fiction book, be sure to include an index, a bibliography and/or a resource list.
  .
• Books for library-use need a Library of Congress Catalog in Publication block or in advance of publication in the Publishers Cataloging in Publication  and / or a listing with Bowker worldwide.
  .
• A note, printed on the upper left back cover should indicating the type of book this is and the topic: reference/book publishing, writing/reference, history, autobiography, parenting,
  .

Sell Books Directly to Libraries

To find their addresses, use  Gale’s Directory of Libraries or Online Library Directory
You cam also buy mailing lists from Library Marketing List. You can get listings for 25,000 university libraries or 18,000 public libraries, or 400 listings for community college libraries.
.

You can’t just walk into a library and hope they will take your book, not even if you are giving it away! Librarians are happy to get  books, but they also have constraints on what books they can accept. One of those constraints is the written or unwritten “acquisitions policy” at each library, depending on what that library is collecting. Space and the high cost of storing and/or distributing books to library patrons is another huge limitation. Time is another issue for librarians – they have little time to spend reading about books.
.

Each kind of library: academic; public, school, and special, has different purposes. And they buy different kinds of books. Choose the right type for your book selling efforts. For example: Young Adult and Children’s authors: The largest library market are school libraries (grades K-12). The budgets of academic libraries and public libraries are much larger than those of the typical school library.
.
Send a press release to the contact name via e-mail or snail mail. Describe your book and the binding and list any amenities such as index, color photos, resource list and/or bibliography. Be sure to include all your ordering information in detail. Add a list of wholesalers / distributors that carry your book.
.
Selling to libraries as an author-publisher (and signing up with book whole sale) works best when you have at least three quality print books.

.
What else can you do to promote your book to libraries?

Offer a free (1 hour) class in local libraries, where you can certainly mention your book.
.
Find out the dates of library trade shows and exhibit through co-operative exhibit programs such as those offered through IBPA, the Independent Book Publishers Association.
.
Consider donating a copy of your book to a few top library systems, to encourage purchases for branch libraries.
.

The best time to approach libraries might be in December and June as this is when they typically do their buying. If you deliver directly to the library and not through whole sale, you may want to offer the same discount to entice them to purchase your book.

.

<><><><><>

If you would like to get help in all things publishing, have your book heavily promoted and learn, how to navigate Social Media: We offer all this and more for only a “token” of $1 / day for 3 months. Learn more about this individual book marketing help: http://www.111Publishing.com/seminar

If you enjoyed this blog post, please feel free to check out all previous posts of this blog (there are more than 700 of them : ) if you haven’t already. Why not sign up to receive them regularly by email? Just click on “Follow” in the upper line on each page – and on “LIKE” next to it. There is also the “SHARE” button underneath each article, where you can submit the article to Pinterest, Google+, Twitter, Chime.in, Facebook, Tumblr and StumpleUpon.

Thanks for following:

@111publishing

http://on.fb.me/TvqDaK
http://bit.ly/VmtVAS 111Publishing @ Google+

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Hyper Smash
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Why Should You Register the Copyright of Your Manuscript?

Copyright Notice Listing

It is not required for an author to register your work or even provide a notice. But… there are reasons to protect yourself and what you created.

Copyright means the sole right to produce or reproduce a work in any form. And in most countries, a work – such as literature, music or software – is automatically protected as soon as it is created. Excluded are ideas, titles, names, facts and short phrases.

However, proving your claim may be a very difficult matter without proper evidence. Often it boils down to a case of “their word against yours”. Without proper protection, work that you have created, could end up making money for someone else.

Claims in US Courts:

• If you have registered your work before infringement, you can collect Statutory Damages plus attorney fees.
• If you registered after infringement, but before filing suit, you can only sue for Actual Damages – which you have to demonstrate.

Content of Copyright Notices in Your Book:

• The symbol © or the word “Copyright”
• The year of first publication of the work
• The name of the owner or creator

Where to Submit

Canada: online to the Copyright Office, Canadian Intellectual Property Office Web site
http://www.cipo.ic.gc.ca (fee Can $50)

USA: online to the U.S. Copyright Office, via the Library of Congress
http://www.copyright.gov  (fee US $ 35)

United Kingdom: online UK Copyright Service
http://www.copyrightservice.co.uk  (online registration are £39.00 for 5 years or £64.00 for 10 years per work. Uploads over 10MB are subject to a fee of 3p per additional MB)

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Copyright registrations become effective the day on which application and payment are received at the office, but it may take months until you receive the certificate.

Sources:

Copyright Portal
http://portal.brint.com/cgi-bin/cgsearch/cgsearch.cgi?query=copyrights

Canadian Guide to Copyright
http://www.cipo.ic.gc.ca/eic/site/cipointernet-internetopic.nsf/eng/h_wr02281.html

UK Copyright Law
http://www.copyrightservice.co.uk/copyright/p01_uk_copyright_law
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Does Apple launch a Genuine Self-Publishing Program?

This would be a huge step forward for Apple to compete with Amazon and Barnes & Noble and would tremendously benefit independent authors who want to submit directly to Apple and not be forced to go through various Aggregators in order to have their ebooks submitted to the iPad.

One of the advantages that Amazon and Barnes&Noble have over Apple, is their own self-publishing program. Even though Apple does have a little known process to publish your own books – it involves a validated ePub file, ISBN identifiers from the Library of Congress and a willingness to run the daunting work of Apple’s contracts, paperwork, and use iTunes Connect. This entire process is very time consuming and many users are even unaware of its existence.

Instead of dealing directly with Apple, self-published authors have been using official Aggregator’s such as; Ingram, INscribe Digital, LibreDigital or Lulu or Bookwire in Europe. Publishing Aggregator’s are proving to be a popular option for people to self-publish with because they help you along the entire process and normally submit to many other bookstores. But they have their downsites: Most of them appear officially as the publisher and get a nice junk out of your royalties. Be aware:  Even if these aggregators offer free upfront service to download to Apple, it will cut into your earnings, once your book is successful as they cut your royalties from Apple.

Who benefits from Apples new program?
If Apple does start their own self-pub service in the next few weeks many authors and publishers will adapt it because of Apples famous “ease of use” philosophy.  Small and medium size publishing companies and organizations right now publish rich media titles or kids books and sell them as apps. In the future they have the option to publish ebooks with their same Apple developer account while making the process more streamlined.

How Apple iBooks needs to compete with Amazon: Better author tools

Erica Sadun wrote a great article about the deficiencies of Apples current publisher program:
Apple’s iBooks program currently allows authors to self-publish ebooks. Authors create their own business built around iTunes Connect, just as they do for self-published apps.So where does Apple have room to improve?iBooks tools are frustrating. You can publish on Amazon with little more than an account, a doc file and a smile. For iBooks, you need validated ePub files, ISBN identifiers from the Library of Congress and a willingness to run the gauntlet of contracts, paperwork, and the hell that is iTunes Connect.

iTunes Connect
It’s not that iTunes Connect is so unusuable from a web page perspective, it’s that its servers are often so loaded that each request may take several minutes to complete for each region. You can lose an entire day of work just moving through paperwork details.

Amazon makes it so simple and intuitive to list books that when you have to move over to iTunes, the difference hits you right in the face. If Apple is to make its mark in iBooks, it has to simplify publishing for independents.

Read this great article doted with more valuable tips here:
http://www.tuaw.com/2012/01/05/how-apple-ibooks-needs-to-compete-with-amazon-better-author-too/