So how do libraries figure into sales?

[MarkEsq]

I went to my local library to see if they had a copy of a suspense novel I wanted to read. They had three copies. And this made me think: if the Austin library has three copies, then the Dallas, Houston, San Antonio and Fort Worth libraries will have two each, surely? Not even counting the smaller towns in Texas, but extrapolating, I estimate 500 copies of this novel in libraries across the country, absolute minimum.

Now, how many times are we told that novelists sell just a couple of thousand copies? (Clue: lots.) Seems to me, libraries give us a good start, no? Why does no one ever mention the books they buy when talking about sales figures? Am I missing something??

(By the way, the book was not by a famous author, in fact it was someone I"d not heard of until recently.)

[Mumut]

I suppose everthing IS big in Texas. In Queensland, Australia, there are a number of libraries in most Council areas. The main library might buy a copy, sometimes more, then readers in subsidiary libraries request the book which is sent to them when available.

I've sold copies of my books direct to libraries or they buy from their supplier - there's usually one main supplier of books per State. Otherwise they order from the publisher. Authors miss out one profit because of loibraries. One sale to a library can mean a hundred people read the book for that one sale. So the Government pays authors depending upon the number of books they have in libraries.

But yes! Sales to libraries are very important. If your book is of interest to schools - lucky you. You can get a lot of sales that way also.

[PeeDee]

If I remember right, libraries in the UK actually make small payments to the author for the books. It's never very much, but it's a small piece of money floating in now and then. And I realize I'm being pretty vague about it, but it's all I can remember. Maybe a fine feathered person from overseas can clarify.

I think the benefit of the library is more to do with exposure. People might discover you, and then read what else you wrote. I've fallen so madly in love with books I've gotten at libraries -- where they make you give the books BACK, damn it! -- that I've rushed out and bought a copy.

But even more usefully, perhaps, is that library books aren't remaindered if they don't sell in (these days) thirty-five seconds. Library books sit on the shelf and are repaired and taped and mylar'd and held together with spit and glue until they dissolve. And that means that the book is around, on that shelf, a long time. I think that's pretty valuable.

[Lauri B]

One of the best things about sales to the school and library market is that the return rate is really, really low. Also, if you happen to publish a series that is well-received and reviewed, libraries will often just put in a standing order for a couple of copies of every new book that comes out from that series. It's as close to a guaranteed sale as you can get. I love libraries.

[maestrowork]

It depends on the distribution. Just because Austin has it doesn't mean Dallas does. For example, my book is in the Pittsburgh and Cleveland libraries, but not Columbus or Philadelphia. So it depends on the buyers, since I don't think there's some kind of national buyer in the US. A major publisher/distributor would have the channel and sales force to push the book nationally to libraries and schools. A smaller/mid-sized publisher may be able to go regional, but may not be national. A niche publisher (or self-published) may be able to get into local libraries.

If a book has been reviewed by the Library Journal, chances are a lot of libraries would purchase it for their collection. Libraries acquire books that are reviewed by trade journals -- once in a while they would take requests or stock a local author's book, but go to beyond local, it has to be reviewed. Mine wasn't reviewed in the LJ, but it was in Publisher Weekly, and thus it got placed in some bigger markets. Still, it's far from being national.

So, the answer is, library sales definitely count, but if you're a small author hoping to sell a couple thousand books, libraries sales are just like other sales -- you need a sales force/distributor. You need reviews in major trade publications.

[IdiotsRUs]

If I remember right, libraries in the UK actually make small payments to the author for the books.

Indeed they do, a Pence Per Loan rate is calculated every year. not much, but better than a poke in the eye with a sharp stick :D


Public Lending Right (PLR) is the right for authors to receive payment under PLR legislation for the loans of their books by public libraries. To qualify for payment, applicants must apply to register their books with us. Payments are made annually on the basis of loans data collected from a sample of public libraries in the UK.

[ClaudiaGray]

Libraries are a BIG market for YA books. I am doing a few signings this year, but I am more psyched about the two librarian conferences where I get to appear; they'll probably add up to more direct sales.

[jvc]

Not sure this info is accurate, perhaps someone else knows for sure. But I did hear that the first run of the first Harry Potter book was mostly sold to libraries here in the UK and that was how the word spread about that book so fast.

[Susan B]

You can go to www.worldcat.org (http://www.worldcat.org) to look up any book you like, to find out which library has it, how many copies, its current circulation status.

I'd used this in the past, to try to find a copy of a hard-to-find book.
But then recently an author friend pointed out it's a way to follow sales of one's own book.

I was pleasantly surprised to see that my new book is getting picked up by university libraries across the country, probably because it is published by a university press. Not enormous numbers, but every little bit helps :-)

[colealpaugh]

Here's how a typical smallish library (15,000+/- books) in a typical US town works, according to my typical library director wife:

She is the sole purchaser of new books and uses either Brodart or Amazon, with some trips to Scholastic in Scranton, PA, for a lot of her YA and educational material. She takes recommendations from her staff and her thirty or so volunteers, as well as following the NYT list. Authors also send emails to her directly, both traditional and self-published, but she mostly ignores these. She keeps a record of her patrons favorite authors and automatically orders any new releases.

Books that don't get checked out for a certain amount of time are pulled off the shelves and sold for $5 per shopping bag as a fundraiser.

Her library doesn't need to 'stock' all titles because any book in the county-wide system can be delivered within two days by a driver who makes the rounds. A much larger neighboring county also shares its titles, but takes a little longer to deliver.

The Harry Potter books, btw, were made available through pre-orders to libraries nearly a month ahead of the release date. My wife had to sign a promise note not to open any of the boxes and to keep them stored behind lock and key until 12:01 am of the release. For the final three books, her library hosted Harry Potter parties, with costumes and weird foods and science experiments, topped off with a reading at the witching hour.

We live in a rural area and she's hosted one book signing in her five year tenure. I recall it was a local guy who wrote a mafia novel and sold a few books and made a lot of demands for sandwiches, pastries, and coffee. Any of the libraries in her region would welcome an author who wanted to hold a signing and sell books, but the author needs to make a proposal that sounds like no extra work will be involved for the library.

All just my two cents and I admit I don't pay close attention...

[Diana Hignutt]

Publishers and/or their distributors sell to libraries too. I'm sure those sales are counted as are any others by publishers. The library market is sizeable. Otherwise, I'm not sure what you mean.

[Twizzle]

She takes recommendations from her staff and her thirty or so volunteers, as well as following the NYT list.

Besides journal reviews/recommendations and patron requests, our library runs circulation reports to determine what's circulating and the actual numbers of books needed to keep up with demand (ex Harry Potter, we needed 7 copies in circ at release time but months later were down to 3), and then they buy more of what's hot/wanted and will be hot and determine what quantity of each book is needed to keep up demand. So as tastes/trends/demand change, orders change and are very specific to the community. (Ex we have a large commuter population and have a huge audiobook collection and offer online digital audio downloads to satisfy the demand. But our sci fi/fantasy and thriller collections are tiny. No one reads them here. :( )

[James81]

I would think that for every book that is sold to a library, you probably LOSE about 100 sales you would have had had they not existed.

While it's cool that libraries are buying your books, on the other hand it also means that there is a whole class of people who aren't buying your book because they can get it at the library.

[Nakhlasmoke]

I would think that for every book that is sold to a library, you probably LOSE about 100 sales you would have had had they not existed.

While it's cool that libraries are buying your books, on the other hand it also means that there is a whole class of people who aren't buying your book because they can get it at the library.

Are they though?

I discovered loads of writers through the library. When I finally could afford to buy books, I did, but if i hadn't had access to a library in the first place how would I have even known that half these writers existed?

[willietheshakes]

I would think that for every book that is sold to a library, you probably LOSE about 100 sales you would have had had they not existed.

While it's cool that libraries are buying your books, on the other hand it also means that there is a whole class of people who aren't buying your book because they can get it at the library.

I strongly disagree.

First off, of those 100 sales, how many would have bought the book if it weren't available at the library, honestly? 2? 3?

And to balance that off, nothing sells books like word of mouth. And those 100 library readers all contribute to that.

[Gillhoughly]

Someone is always counting something somewhere.

Librarians order a book by a new writer.

Word of mouth makes the new book a sought after title.

People check it out, put it on reserve, request it.

This process is recorded.

Librarians order more copies based on the demand and count how many times that title is checked out. When the writer's next book comes out they order more of that title.

Sales to libraries are solid royalty earnings. Publishers LOVE them.

I'm thrilled when one of my titles is mentioned in the library catalogs. It means it will probably be ordered and put in the right section. If someone checks out book 7 by a writer, decide they like the writing, better believe they will try to find books by that writer. Most don't know about InterLibrary Loan, so they go to the bookstore or Amazon and buy it.

That's how I got hooked on Agatha Christie. Fifty years after their publishing date I was able to read her classic mysteries. When I ran out of library titles I was in the bookstores looking for others to feed my habit.

It's not just new releases that earn money from library sales.

I wish libraries would buy more of my titles. If every library in Texas had three copies each I'd be one happy camper!

[Twizzle]

Most don't know about InterLibrary Loan, so they go to the bookstore or Amazon and buy it.


And those that do, sometimes it can take a while to get the book via ILL-as in weeks. So patrons will go buy it versus waiting. And also, if we were to get more than one ILL request on a book over time, or if the patron raved about the book, the tech services dept puts in a request to purchase it.

[DeeCaudill]

You're not losing a hundred sales from a each copy a library buys.

Perfect-bound books (almost everything published today) are unlikely to last through a hundred circulations. Library patrons beat the heck out of popular books which are held together solely by a nickel's worth of glue.

With a four-week loan rule, you're looking at 7+ years to even reach 100 circulations, assuming no renewals. I just checked the stats on our copy of Twilight, and we've had only 19 circulations in the period from 9/24/2007 to the present. That means the book has been out nearly all the time.

For something that is new and in-demand, public libraries are going to buy the first available format, which is typically hard cover without more than a normal retail discount. They're not going to wait for the mass-market printing just to save some bucks.

[seun]

Someone is always counting something somewhere.

Librarians order a book by a new writer.

Word of mouth makes the new book a sought after title.

People check it out, put it on reserve, request it.

This process is recorded.

Librarians order more copies based on the demand and count how many times that title is checked out. When the writer's next book comes out they order more of that title.


Exactly.

[maestrowork]

I would think that for every book that is sold to a library, you probably LOSE about 100 sales you would have had had they not existed.

I also find this kind of thinking unrealistic. Where is the assumption that those people who read the book at libraries would, otherwise, go out and buy the book? A) they wouldn't even know the book existed, probably, if not for the display at the library, and B) there's no indication that they would buy the book even if they know about it.

Every sale is a SALE. Just because your book is on the shelf at a book store doesn't mean it's going to be sold. So many books get remaindered or returned. I would take that sale (to library) over a "potential" sale elsewhere, any day.

[colealpaugh]

Perfect-bound books (almost everything published today) are unlikely to last through a hundred circulations. Library patrons beat the heck out of popular books which are held together solely by a nickel's worth of glue.


Ha, imagine this scenario: we live in a gated community in the Poconos, which is also the vacation home to hundreds of folks from NYC. They come out on summer weekends, borrow a stack of books and head right for our community pools where my library director wife watches them drop books in kiddie pools, use books as coasters and lunch tables, as well as goals for touch football games.

And this isn't half as bad as what her patrons do to the $20 DVD's she buys....