How Self-Published Authors Can Distribute to Libraries

Self Publishing Distribution to Libraries
iStockphoto / padchas

Update from Jane (July 8, 2015): This guest post from Porter Anderson explains the terms of a new program—a partnership between Library Journal and BiblioBoard—to help distribute self-published ebooks into the library market. My own self-published book, Publishing 101is enrolled in the SELF-e program.

Some authors and industry people have spoken out against the SELF-e program because it does not pay authors, despite charging libraries for the ebooks provided. If you’re seeking an alternative service that does pay self-pub authors, then take a look at ebooksareforever.


The problem self-published authors have run into at libraries has been a lot like the problem they run into at bookshops: no way to break through the barrier of mainstream competition, no way to stand out.

Many librarians are eager to offer self-published material to their patrons, but with some estimates suggesting that as many as 600,000 indie titles are being launched per year in the United States, no one has time to read those ebooks and sort the good from the rest.

SELF-e sealSELF-e can’t help you in the bookshop. But it can put your ebook into libraries.

SELF-e offers the independent author a chance to put his or her ebooks in front of librarians at the state and/or national level. Most importantly, when those librarians get their chances to peruse these ebooks, they’ve been vetted, carefully evaluated and selected by Library Journal.

Library Journal is best known as the national publication for the library community. It not only covers issues in the business but also generates reviews that librarians depend on in making choices for their collections.

I’ve agreed to work with SELF-e as a client of my Porter Anderson Media consultancy, so I can help get the word out to writers for exactly that reason: This is a new, national-class service that promotes independent authors at no cost to them and in a critical discovery forum that previously has been out of reach to indies.

One key criterion for me: This is available not only to US authors but to anyone, anywhere, writing in English.

If this is all news to you, don’t worry, you’re not behind. Only last weekend were attendees at the American Library Association’s annual conference in San Francisco getting demos of how SELF-e works for them on the library side.

Let’s take it step by step. I’ll give you the basic details of how this works, and then will watch the comments below for your questions.

What Is SELF-e About?

From Library Journal's SELF-e
From Library Journal’s SELF-e

At the Self-e website, be sure to review Is SELF-e Right For Me? This gives you several criteria to consider, including:

  • You must have the e-rights to your book.
  • SELF-e will not pay you a royalty when your ebook is checked out by a library patron. It costs you nothing to get into this arena for discovery but it also will not pay you in royalties.

The way SELF-e works financially is that participating libraries subscribe to its services in order to gain access to its curated collections of independent ebooks. The costs of running the program, then, are borne by the libraries.

On this page, you can see where in the States authors already are active in submitting their ebooks. You can also see where “Statewide Indie Anthologies” are being released or coming soon. Here’s what that means:

  • When you submit your ebook to SELF-e, you can elect to automatically be included in your Statewide Indie Anthology. Everyone, in other words, can have his or her work made available to local libraries, and this is a big help to librarians who for years have had no good channel for submissions from local authors.
  • You also can opt to be considered for the Library Journal SELF-e Select, the collection that is curated and offered to libraries nationwide. And in case you’re wondering, there are more than 9,700 library systems in the United States today.

SELF-e competitionWhen you’re ready, here is the basic submission page.

Side note: You’ll notice you can submit your work as part of a contest currently underway for ebooks submitted to the program. If you’d like to be entered in the four-genre competition, start on this form—watch for the “Winner” badge on the upper left.

The process of submission is quick (15 minutes), and easy to follow.

The way ebooks are displayed by the program to librarians is via the work of BiblioBoard, which specializes in digital resources for libraries. BiblioBoard’s work is utilized by close to 2,700 libraries and reaches some 30 million patrons.

Let me touch on a couple of questions that I’ve heard from authors about SELF-e.

What the Fine Print Means

SELF-e’s terms of agreement are found on this page. I urge any author considering the program to read them, of course.

Some authors have concerns after reading the first entry, the “Grant of Rights.” The legal language can be a little daunting, naturally, so I asked Library Journal’s vice-president and group publisher, Ian Singer, how we could boil down just what kind of license an author is granting to SELF-e in order to participate.

Singer says, in response:

Library Journal SELF-e selected titles may be purchased only by public libraries.  That’s the “exclusive nature” of the license grant we seek. As there is no payment to authors for the selection or promotion services Library Journal renders, Library Journal needs a license—which is non-exclusive, meaning that an author can distribute to public libraries or any other wholesaler, distributor, retailer.
Another more specific concern I’ve heard seemed worth putting to Singer. Let’s say that your ebook goes into library collections thanks to being in Library Journal SELF-e Select, and library patrons flip for it. They’re checking it out right and left. Hottest thing since Beatrix Potter. Then a major traditional publisher gets in touch with you talking about a nice-sounding contract. But, of course, the publisher wants that super-popular ebook to come back out of those libraries. Can you get back out of SELF-e?

Singer:

At any time, an author can request his/her title(s) be removed from a Library Journal SELF-e selection module.

So yes, you can get out of the arrangement at will. The terms provide Library Journal with 180 days to get a title out of circulation, allowing libraries that may have entered it in their collections to remove it.

Who Else Is Participating in the Self-e Program?

Elaine Russell
Elaine Russell

Meet Elaine Russell, whose Across the Mekong River is not only in the new Library Journal SELF-e Select national collection but has been tagged as a “highlighted” title by the evaluators: highest honor. Russell tells me that she heard about SELF-e through David Vandagriff’s Passive Voice blog and found the submission process very easy.

One thing that makes Russell a good fit for library exposure is that she has ebooks for readers “from children’s and YA to adult,” an unusual range that librarians can appreciate.

“I began writing about 20 years ago after a career in environmental consulting,” she says. “A number of my short stories and the first Martin McMillan novel were traditionally published. But as the publishing industry changed and contracted, I grew frustrated and impatient with the difficulty of getting traditional publishers for my other works. … I am still open to traditional publishing, but I don’t regret my choice to self-publish.”

Whether authors today are found working in libraries as much as they once were for research (Russell still does research at libraries), or simply hold a special place in their memories as their first big contact points with the world of books as kids, the logic of the library patron base as a hub for author discovery makes good sense.

SELF-e is offered as a discovery channel for self-publishing authors who, for the most part, have had no way to reach this broad patron base before. If you feel it’s right for you, it’s ready for your submission. And if you’d like to drop a comment or question here, please do.

This guest post from Porter Anderson explains the terms of a new program—a partnership between Library Journal and BiblioBoard—to help distribute self-published ebooks into the library market. My own self-published book, Publishing 101, is enrolled in the SELF-e program.

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melissaludtke2013

Jane: Terrific post, with good news. Wondering if iBooks (the Apple transmedia book format) would qualify for submission through this Self-e program. Thanks so much for another very informative post. Learn so much from you! Melissa

Porter Anderson

Hi, Melissa, thanks for reading and for your question. I’m just checking with the SELF-e team to be sure I get you the right answer, and will have more for you shortly.
Cheers, more to come,
-p.

On Twitter: @Porter_Anderson

Porter Anderson

Hi again, Melissa.

The SELF-e team notes that iBooks Author publications are interactive and built on the service’s proprietary software. Unlike a standard ebook, then, they are not usually rendered in PDF or EPUB formats. At this point, those formats are the ones that SELF-e is supporting and so it appears that your ebooks on that platform aren’t applicable as yet for SELF-e. I’m saying “as yet,” however, because our folks tell me that they may be able to find a crossover strategy, in which case, we’ll update our answer here for you.

I’d also advise that you check with iBooks on where it might stand in terms of rights on this. You may need to check and see whether something created in Author can be utilized outside its system. (As far as I know, sales must be made only in that system’s channels, right?)

Thanks for your interest and hope that in the future there’s a way to accommodate this, we’d love to have your submission.

Cheers
-p.

On Twitter: @Porter_Anderson

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[…] Journalist and consultant Porter Anderson explains the new SELF-e program from Library Journal for getting self-published ebooks into American libraries.  […]

Glen Strathy

Great. Another way to drive down royalties on books so writers make less money while others profit from their work. Preying on aspiring authors and their desperation for readers.

Porter Anderson

Hi, Glen,

The countervailing opinion is that by moving into the library space, the author is exposed to the primary reading community — and in a venue, libraries, otherwise largely out of reach for self-publishing authors, and with a curatorial leg up that flags strong work for acquisition librarians.

What’s more, SELF-e creates a channel of collaboration for authors and their local libraries that simply hasn’t existed, a “way in” for librarians to offer to writers they’d like to work with but have had no means to accommodate. You can read about this aspect of the program in comments from Bibliolabs’ Mitchell Davis in this story http://bit.ly/1CMXr5s — Davis told Library Journal’s Meredith Schwartz in that story that SELF-e “solves a problem [when] local authors want their book in their local library and libraries have had to turn [them] away. Los Angeles Public Library (LAPL) told us they were getting multiple emails a week and would have to say no. SELF-e lets the librarian say yes and engage their writing community more viscerally.”

A Patron Profiles report indicates that 73 percent of print library borrowers and 78 percent of ebook library borrowers have gone on to buy a book within six months. And as SELF-e develops, the team may also be able to provide a “buy this book” capability, too, something that already is provided on some library ebook loan systems, so that the library patron-reader can opt to purchase a copy.

But SELF-e is chiefly a discoverability play, not a revenue plan. And this is why I’m always quick to stress that it’s not for everyone. Each writer will want to make her or his own decision as to how valuable library exposure might be to them.

Thanks for reading and commenting.
-p.

On Twitter: @Porter_Anderson

L.L. Barkat

I went to their presentation last year at BEA. My biggest concern was that Library Journal would be making $ (there was something about them selling the books in bundles, as I recall—kind of a confusing side note that wasn’t entirely explained), and yes, that there would be no $ sharing. I’d actually rather see an up-front charge to the author that would cover their basic costs (though you’re saying the cost is borne by the libraries, so even that seems unnecessary).

Porter Anderson

Hi there, good to hear from you!

Right, the point of the finances in this arrangement is that SELF-e is a means to discovery for writers, not revenue. The fact that it costs authors nothing and gives them access to a sector of audience that they can’t usually have as self-publishers to me is the key here. Authors themselves have no way to create a curated collection of their work and have libraries cover the cost of subscribing to it — this is a role that develops out of Library Journal’s unique position and daily work in the library system that makes sense and is a lucky thing for indie authors.

But, all that being said, this is something that each writer needs to decide for him- or herself. The team is very clear about how this is simply not the route for everyone.

The endorsements they’ve had from people like Hugh Howey and CJ Lyons — two of our multi-Million Kindle Club sellers, as you know http://bit.ly/1CMXr5s — reinforces this for me. Those are the authors whose names alone mean that they could probably expect a considerable return if they wanted to hold out for a money-making avenue of some kind into the library system. The fact that they see the library base as valuable enough to make SELF-e the way to go says a lot. And, of course, if an author goes into SELF-e and then decides there’s a moneymaking alternative that he or she would rather pursue, nothing has been lost: the author can come back out of SELF-e.

Good questions and considerations, Laura. Thanks for reading and commenting!
-p.

On Twitter: @Porter_Anderson

Sandra Hutchison

As a library trustee in years past, I’m a very enthusiastic library supporter. I have a highlighted title in SELF-e, and I’m likely to submit more now that I’m out of Kindle Select with everything. To be honest, however, I’ve been holding off a little on the next one because I’m still waiting to see any actual information on what that has meant for the first one. As an author I’d love, for example, to be able to link to a place where Library Journal is saying anything at all about my book (a review would be particularly thrilling, of course, but just being able to point to a listing would be nice). After all, even if the books are made available to libraries, and even if they do make the “highlighted” list, that doesn’t necessarily make them visible to busy librarians or library patrons. I have enthusiastic local readers mostly because my local library has made my books “staff picks.” That’s what starts people reading and talking. Even if that isn’t going to happen here, I’d like to know where I can find out if I’ve had any readers in any library as a result. There is mention on the SELF-e page of this kind of information for authors, but I’ve yet to find any.
Once authors can see that sort of thing happening — even if it just points them to good indie works in their own library browsing — the SELF-e program will become SELF-evidently valuable to them. (Sorry, couldn’t resist.)

Porter Anderson

Hey, Sandra!

Back again here, and good news. (This is what I wanted to check with the team at BiblioBoard and Library Journal before saying, just to be sure all plans are on track.)

Before the end of the year, our friends at BiblioBoard do plan to launch SELF-e 2.0, which will include author dashboards! Your dashboard will show you how many people are reading your ebooks and other info about usage.

So the feedback you need is coming — you’ll then be able to start evaluating how well your ebook is doing among librarians in terms of it being picked up for collections, and among patrons who can check it out.

We’ll have a bit of a wait here, of course, since the heavy lifting so far has been to develop this program (the tech is quite complex, as you might imagine, handling the needs of both the libraries, the patrons, and the authors), but a lot more data will be coming your way.

And in the meantime, let me give you a bit more the team sent over about the potential discoverability here:

Libraries can link directly to ebooks selected for SELF-e (from the homepage, newsletters and other electronic resources) so patrons can read them.

Since the ebooks are unlimited multi-user, there is no risk of the book being “checked out” and unavailable. (This is very different from most traditional-publisher arrangements which sharply limit how many e-copies of a book can be out.) Libraries often call these “community reads”. This is the equivalent of the staff picks but with no limits on the number of readers that can build once people start talking.

The team is telling me that they provide catalog records to the library so the ebooks are available when a patron does a search of the library catalog. This helps with discovery.

They also post all selections to Goodreads and encourage authors to promote activity around their selection on social media. (Here’s the group on Goodreads: http://bit.ly/1HHJzPB )

And in addition to the coming author dashboard, SELF-e Selections will be listed on the BiblioBoard Catalog site (alongside traditional publisher content) and promoted from that site (early autumn), which should also add a new layer of visibility.

Hope that helps, Sandra, thanks again and congrats on being a SELF-e author!
-p.

On Twitter: @Porter_Anderson

Karen Myers

And here I am, a year later, still waiting for any sort of Author dashboard, even a simple confirmation of my submissions, much less which programs they’ve been accepted for of how many libraries have acquired them. 🙁

Porter Anderson

Hi, Sandra, thanks for reading and commenting!

Love your SELF-evidently pun, too. 🙂

I’ve got a note in to the team to see with your question about feedback and, of course, the holiday is intervening. So it might be a little while, but I’ll get back to you here with more.

Thanks again!
-p.

On Twitter: @Porter_Anderson

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[…] be optimistic—pronounced it library-worth? That’s the idea of  SELF-e, and in a guest post in Jane Friedman’s blog, publishing consultant Porter Anderson explores the pros and […]

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noewoman

So, yes, the “I’m not going to make a dime from this” is something that gives all of us pause. But I’m in now, so here’s why I submitted:

Libraries are obviously a huge market and a gateway to book sales: either by the library, the patrons themselves or the possibility of the library inviting you to speak to their patrons (God knows I’m not shy about getting up in front of an audience).

The issue for self-published authors has always been curating. Libraries (public, school, etc.) tend to go by reviews. And many review sites were off-limits or prohibitively expensive for us. But otherwise it’s damn hard to get noticed in the sea of self-published books.

So being included in the Illinois and national collections is, for me, an important way into that market that had eluded me for sometime. I’ve done a couple local author fairs at public libraries, but this will be the kind of validation I need to get into more (not just in Illinois, hopefully).

I learned a long time ago when I was selling children’s books to school librarians that everyone likes a free book. At library conferences I would offer “buy 3 get the 4th one free”. Librarians would stand in my booth with the one book in hand that they planned to buy and say “I have to pick 3 more!”. That’s called upselling and I was shameless. I think of this program the same way, though I guess my ebooks are technically loss leaders. Still…

When librarians see (fingers crossed) a lot of interest in my ebooks, they’re going to at least consider buying the paperbacks. They’re going to consider bringing me in to talk about them. And if not for this, they probably wouldn’t know I’m alive.

So this is marketing for me. In the long run, I’d rather do this than pay for an ad or booth space. Those have their advantages, especially the booth. But it still means my work isn’t curated. And while there may no longer be gatekeepers to publishing, on some level we will always need gatekeepers for discoverability.

Porter Anderson

Hi, Viki,

I’ve held back on answering you so that, in fact, I could use some of your comment’s insights here in another write-up about SELF-e. I think that you make a clear, sensible argument for the way the program makes sense in your case and I especially like your understanding of how some of its value could come in the form of library contacts for speaking appearances and so on. This is marketing, as you say, and while an idea of everyone being paid is highly attractive (as you point out), you’ve done a great job of understanding how SELF-e can work to your advantage.

Congratulations on the success of your books in SELF-e Select, and on the upcoming new installments in the series, and thanks again. More to come in a placement within a few days.

Cheers,
-p.

On Twitter: @Porter_Anderson