Tuesday, March 29, 2011

Books & Such Literary Agency Launches Library Insider!

As an author, it's important for me to reach every potential reader I can. One area I didn't know how to approach was libraries. I can't say I've always had pleasant experiences when visiting local libraries. Most have been great, but there is that occasional moment when you wonder why some people are working with the public. It's those times that have made me hesitant to approach libraries about carrying my book.

I subscribe to a great blog, which is run by Books & Such Literary Agency. They launched this exciting new product today that I signed up for. It's called Library Insider. I'm not going to give you all the details, as I feel their website at http://libraryinsider.com/ will explain it much better and more accurately than I can, but why I decided to subscribe is because I felt my fears of dealing with libraries were leading me to miss out on a great opportunity for Little Shepherd.

As they explained today at their blog, there are two parts to Library Insider:

"1) Library Locator, which enables you to connect with 2,500 acquisitions librarians in public libraries and library systems around the country;

2) Behind the Stacks, which is individual training offered by librarian and library market expert Judy Gann."

I subscribed to the former. What this did was provide me with a database of contact information for the states I selected. I chose my home state and one other I felt would be a good fit for the book. I've already downloaded the information into an Excel spreadsheet, which will allow me to make quick work of mailings.

I'm excited about Library Insider and I wanted to share it with you so that you can decide if you're interested. Books & Such doesn't know I am talking about it at my blog. I hope you'll check out their website and let me know what you think.

8 comments:

Unknown said...

Wow, this is great. I've been wondering about libraries lately. I'm going to check it out now!

Nicole weaver said...

Cheryl,

Thanks. I have had great success with libraries near me, but I want to check out ones in Florida and other states. Thanks for passing along this great information.

Nicole Weaver
http://mysisterismybestfriend.blogspot.com
http://marieandherfriendtheseaturtle.blogspot.com

Beverly Stowe McClure said...

Thanks for the links, Cheryl. The only libraries I've dealt with are the local ones, but I'd like to expand. Will check on these.

Marianne Evans said...

Cheryl, what an informative and interesting blog post!! God bless and thanks!!

Cheryl said...

I'm glad you found this article helpful. I appreciate the comments. Bev, I was thinking that libraries where your book is set would be interested in carrying it, especially since states with Civil War history seem to enjoy having those around. Museum gift shops might like to carry it too.

Unknown said...

Thank you for the great post, Cheryl. I appreciate you taking the time to share this!

elysabeth said...

Cheryl,

Thanks for passing this on - I'm going to post about it everywhere I can - I wish I had the funds to sign up right now but I'm totally preparing for a big trip to PA this weekend and therefore will have to wait a bit. See you in the poastings - E :)

Elysabeth Eldering
Author of the Junior Geography detective Squad, 50-state, mystery, trivia series

Where will the adventure take you next?

http://jgdsseries.blogspot.com
http://jgdsseries.weebly.com

Karen Cioffi said...

Thanks for the info, I'll go check out the site.