Library Experiment

by Fern Reiss ~ February 11th, 2003. Filed under: Book Marketing, Publishing Basics, Sales And Marketing.

The Great Library Experiment

Libraries buy thousands of books (and can make you thousands of bucks.) But some book experts say if your book isn’t one of the select few reviewed by Publishers Weekly, BookList, or Library Journal, you won’t be able to sell to libraries.

Hogwash.

Do you have ten friends? Then you can sell to libraries. Here’s how:

The Great Library Experiment was designed as a way of increasing visibility of unknown authors and independent press titles. Not so incidentally, it will also promote library sales of your book. Here’s how to get started. Send this letter to ten friends (you can send it online; just cut and paste it:)

Dear Friends,Please help me out by participating in the Great Library Experiment. Here’s how to play:

1. Go to your local library and request the first book on the list below. If they don’t have the book, then ask if they can please buy it for the library. When they get the book for you, read it! If you like it, make it a point to tell people about it. Review it on Amazon. Encourage your book group to read it. Write a letter to the editor of your local newspaper. Email some friends about it. Talk about it on your favorite list. Help to spread the word!

2. Then delete the number one book on the list below.

3. Add a book to the bottom of the list. If you’re an author or independent publisher, add your own book! If you’re not, just add your favorite (not yet popular) book. Include the ISBN number (it’s usually on the back cover) and a tiny review, if you like.

4. Send this entire message onward to ten (or more!) friends. If you’re online, send it to your favorite lists and places where writers and publishers congregate.

That’s it. Please don’t try to cheat by putting your book on the top of this list. (If you do, only your ten friends will request your book—see?) The only way to get a lot of people to hear about your book is to play by the rules. And please don’t break the chain!

If you’d like to find out whether this experiment worked or not, please check in at www.PublishingGame.com and we’ll post the results as we get them. (You can also find an online version of this letter there, if it’s easier for you to email it to your friends.)

Thank you for participating in this experiment (which, by the way, is highly legal—I checked with an attorney just to be sure.) If you’d like to be informed of the next great experiment, send email to Experiment@PublishingGame.com . And thanks for playing!

The Great Library Experiment List of Books:

The Publishing Game: Bestseller in 30 Days by Fern Reiss.
How to market your book to bestsellerdom!
The Publishing Game: Find an Agent in 30 Days by Fern Reiss.
How to get a literary agent who will sell your book to a publisher.
The Publishing Game: Publish a Book in 30 Days by Fern Reiss.
How to set up a publishing house and self-publish.

That’s it! Libraries base buying decisions on good reviews and customer requests. It may be too late to do anything about the reviews—but it’s never too late to stimulate patron requests. Participating in the Great Library Experiment is one way to generate library purchases—because people all over the country will be requesting your book from their local library.Send the announcement to all your friends and relatives, or post it on your website and to your favorite writing and publishing lists, so that others will send it around too. The more the list is circulated, the better everyone’s book should do.

Or start your own Great Library Experiment—you’re only as limited as your imagination!

Fern Reiss is the author of The Publishing Game: Bestseller in 30 Days, The Publishing Game: Publish a Book in 30 Days and The Publishing Game: Find an Agent in 30 Days. This spring, she will be publishing Expertizing, Consultants Publish and Kids Publish! She gives intensive, all-day workshops on publishing and book promotion in cities across the country, including Philadelphia (Jan 28), Washington DC (January 30), Boca Raton (Feb 9), New York (March 31), Boston (April 27), San Francisco (May 22) and Los Angeles (May 25.) For more information on her books, workshops, and consulting, see www.PublishingGame.com.

Media: Please feel free to use this article in your publication, including e-zines and websites—as long as you include the biography information at the end. To contact Fern Reiss for an interview, please email PBJ publicist Alyza Harris at Alyza@PublishingGame.com.