E-Books in a Public Library? by Natalie Giauque

I’ve been asked frequently how a writer goes about getting their print books into a library system. If a writer approaches the library, they’re often turned down. Donated books frequently go straight into the library’s bookstore. What’s an author to do?

If you’re published by a large national publisher, they should take care of this for you. If you’re with a smaller, regional publisher, they may or may not have the pull to get your books in. If you’re self-published, it’s nearly impossible.

The best way is to have card-carrying library patrons request the book. If a library gets enough requests, they’ll actively seek out the book.

But what about e-books?

Yes, some libraries have an e-book catalog that allows their patrons to check out e-books. Here’s what Natalie Glauque from the Salt Lake County Library has to say:

Interested in getting your LDS e-books into the Salt Lake County Library System’s E-book OverDrive Catalog? If you are a self-published author and have the rights to your books and would like us to purchase your books, please read the following:

Self-published LDS Authors: OverDrive works with Author Solutions and Smashwords for self-published titles. If authors make their titles available through these platforms, they can be expected to be available via OverDrive.

There is no action needed for Smashwords and Author Solutions. The authors just need to ensure that their distribution partner includes OverDrive as a distribution channel.

 

Have any of you tried this? Leave a comment and tell us what you think.

Author: LDS Publisher

I am an anonymous blogger who works in the LDS publishing industry. I blog about topics that help authors seeking publication and about published fiction by LDS authors.

6 thoughts on “E-Books in a Public Library? by Natalie Giauque”

  1. I have tried to use OverDrive though my local library and what I’ve found is they really don’t have that many books for their use yet. Hopefully more will be coming soon! I think it’s a great idea to have a way to check out e-books.

  2. I was just frustrated the other day when I was trying to search for books on the library website and discovered almost no LDS books were available.

  3. Actually, right now our OverDrive E-book catalog has about 18,000 titles and we add new titles every week. If you are using our catalog to search for LDS books, try searching under “Subject” LDS Fiction. I can find 1700 titles that way.

    1. Natalie, maybe you could give us some Search help. When I type LDS Fiction in the search field, it comes up with a whole list of things that aren’t even close to LDS . (Like 50 Shades of Gray) (Oops!)

      And if I click Browse by Subject in the left sidebar, I don’t see LDS Fiction listed there.

      How do we do a good search for only LDS Fiction?

  4. Hi-

    Okay, first of all, are we all searching in the same catalog? I’m searching in Salt Lake County’s Library catalog, not our OverDrive e-book catalog.

    Follow this link: http://ipac.slcolibrary.org/ipac20/ipac.jsp?profile=dial&lang=eng#focus

    Then in the “Subject Starts With” type “LDS Fiction”. The first link should say “LDS Fiction” with a return of 1724 titles. Now these are print and audiobooks, not e-books.

    To search our OverDrive catalog for E-books, follow this link to our e-book catalog:

    http://slco.lib.overdrive.com/BC8DDB92-5F07-4B65-A993-40AB6BB0296D/10/328/en/Default.htm

    If you click on “Advanced” in the upper right hand side and narrow your search by format, choose your device, say Kindle or E-Pub (Nook,Ipad etc), you can see how many books we have available by device. Today I’m seeing 18,362 Kindle books. (And yes, the first title returned is…50 Shades of Grey. It’s been hugely popular. Don’t be deterred. Scroll down and you’ll see Nicholas Sparks) For e-pub books I’m seeing 19,050. This is the total item number of books owned by format. The OverDrive catalog also has WMA and MP3 titles you can download as well. Annnnd, as of right now, there aren’t any LDS titles in the OverDrive catalog at all. Soon, we hope. Soon. One other little tidbit-OverDrive is revamping their catalog in the next two weeks so what you see will change dramatically with the update.

    1. Got it. Thanks. I was searching the Overdrive catalog. Well, then. Authors who want to get their ebooks into the Overdrive catalog, go for it! 🙂

      And readers looking for LDS Fiction in print & audio, check the regular listing.

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