Can Your Library Be the Key to Better Visibility for Your eBook?

Even some of the smallest libraries around the country are recognizing the shift to digital and are trying to accommodate their patrons by providing digital media. Yet as an ebook author, is there any benefit to allowing your ebook to be included in a library’s borrowing system? We think there are opportunities for indie authors who partner with their local libraries. Here’s how to leverage those opportunities:

1. Make your book available to your local library for free digital lending, but ask them to feature you as a local writer, either with a display in the building or a link on their website to your website or both.
2. Offer your library the opportunity to invite you as a guest speaker. You can read selections from your work, discuss the ebook platform and even sell your book at the event. Libraries typically promote guest authors, so you’ll even reach people who do not attend the speaking event.
3. Take advantage of your library’s ability to support you as a writer. The people in your local library offer a wealth of knowledge about writing and research, and they can be a great resource to help you successfully complete your projects.
4. Offer to teach a course on ebook publishing or writing ebooks at your library, or even conduct an entire series of classes that at once establish you as a professional and provide you with exposure as an author.

For libraries searching for solutions that allow them to offer ebooks as part of their lending library, there are several ebook borrowing systems that have been developed to make digital lending management easier, including Baker & Taylor’s Axis 360, the 3M Cloud Library, and OverDrive. These systems provide analytic tools and tracking systems to make digital lending easier.