Book marketing to libraries can be tricky, but here’s a scheme we tried that worked for us.
How many people can you count as friends? You will soon find out when you ask for their help with this book marketing technique that works for even the most shy of authors.
With a little work and a big ask, you will soon find your book listed in public libraries all over the country.
I’m sure this trick for marketing your book to libraries has been used before, but one day it occurred to me out of the blue. I simply thought I’d ask all of my friends to request Book Design Made Simple at their local libraries. So, using the principle of “the easier the better” for my friends, here’s what I did.
The method
I opened my email contact list, dug out my address book from the bottom of a drawer, and went through the names of other authors I had met. I noted physical locations of anyone who seemed likely to help me out.
- I composed a friendly individual email for each person, asking them to request the book at their public library. To fellow authors I promised to return the favor. I gave everyone my book details, including the authors, title, publisher, ISBN, copyright date, and price. Also a short book description and the book’s URL. But I didn’t send the message yet, because I still had to complete the next crucial step.
- I went to the website of each friend’s local library and looked for the book purchase request form; they were sometimes quite well hidden, and some libraries simply didn’t have an online form. In the process I saw that no two library websites were organized the same way—very interesting. Below are some examples of the various locations of the form you are looking for:

Check It Out > Also Try > Suggest for Purchase (Columbia, MO)

Library Collections > Suggestions for Purchase > Purchase Suggestion Form for Books and Music Scores (Seattle, WA)

Collections > Purchase Request (Newton, MA)

Discover Services > Use Our Library > Suggest a Purchase (Carson City, NV)

Contact Us > Purchase Suggestion (Ithaca, NY)
- In each email, I added the link to the relevant book request page. If there was no online form for a particular library, I explained the process for requesting a purchase either in person or over the phone (of course supplying the phone number).
- I clicked the SEND button.
Now why couldn’t I have simply requested the book myself from all of those libraries? Because invariably the library asks for the patron’s library card number.
#Marketing your #book to libraries can be a struggle for #selfpublishing #authors. Here is a simple book marketing scheme for libraries that worked for us. https://goo.gl/XjmnKM Share on X
Did this scheme for book marketing to libraries work?
You are probably wondering what kind of return on investment we had with this book marketing to libraries scheme. The monetary investment was zero, and the time was 5–15 minutes per email message (about 4 hours total). The numbers are fuzzy, but here’s how it worked out:
- Of the friends whose libraries had an online patron request form, 100% of them put in the request!
- If their library did not have a way to request the book online—requiring a stop at the front desk—about 75% of the folks took the time to do it, and that is pretty remarkable.
- A couple of friends asked not only their local public library but also an academic library they were associated with to purchase the book (with both of the academic libraries agreeing).
- About 17% of the libraries had no book purchasing budget at all. However, I have since donated copies to some of them.
So I have some amazing friends! And all of them now have an investment in the success of our book.
But how many of those libraries actually ordered the book? About half of them ordered it soon after the request. In the intervening months, many, many public libraries have ordered the book, and perhaps some of them were the ones approached by my friends. I haven’t kept up with that.
And here are the sales numbers
Out of the 24 people I contacted,
- 16 put in an online request, and half of the libraries complied right away (sales = 8 books).
- 3 requested the book in person, and again, about half of the libraries put in orders (sales = 2 books).
- 2 also requested the book at an academic library, and both of them bought copies (sales = 2 books)
- 4 found that their library had no budget for new books (sales = 0)
- 1 did not respond (sales = 0)
Summary: 50% immediate return on investment (12 books from 24 requests), with more later on. Do you know of any other book marketing to libraries scheme that works as well?
So try it! Be sure to spend time crafting a friendly but persuasive message, and supply all the information that could possibly be needed, plus the all-important link to the book purchase request form. And then sit back and watch the sales roll in.
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Book Design Made Simple. You can do it yourself.
Very informative article. Will try it. Thank you. Bookmarked your blog.
Dita
Hi Dita,
We’re glad you found us. Thanks for reading. We’re always here to help with any InDesign book project, so feel free to ask us anything.
Glenna and Fiona