As most folks know, my cat noir novel Marked Territory was released on the first of this month. Earlier this year I also put out my short story collection The Rejects, and the year before that I released my sword and sorcery novel Crier's Knife. While most of my regular readers might know about that, what you might not know is that I'm friends with a lot of librarians (mostly thanks to being a tabletop gamer and spending a lot of time at cons).
While some of them buy my books when they come out, sometimes the books I write aren't to everyone's reading taste. But what they can do for me is put in the paperwork to make sure their libraries, at least, have copies of my work on the shelves.
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| As I so often say, a sale's a sale, I don't care where it's coming from. |
And that might sound like one of those backroom, sweetheart deals that you only get by making a lot of friends in places of authority who will do you a favor, but that's only partly true. Because if you have a library card, then you are actually in a position to influence your library's buying habits... and to help out the authors you want to support.
Make Your Voice Heard (And Help Out A Writer)
There are a hundred and one reasons not to buy a book. Maybe it's that the book isn't in a genre you're really interested in, or it's from a series you're not big on, or you just really don't have the spare cash to spend at the moment. But if you want to do something to help an author, and to get their book seen by more people, all it takes is a moment of your time to ask your library to purchase that book, and put it on the shelf.
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| Like this one, for instance! |
It really doesn't take that much time and energy. If you're physically present in your library, ask at the front desk. Some libraries will have a document you can fill out, and others will have a spot on their website for you to make request. Every library will have their own system, but they generally listen to the people who actually use it tell them to get a particular book.
This is easier for traditionally published books, but libraries will often acquire self-published books as well if the demand for them is there.
If you just want to help an author out, you can consider your good deed done once you submit that request. For those who want to go above and beyond, though, actually check out the book once it has been cataloged and put out. Read it, leave a review, and tell your friends to do the same. Books that get checked out are kept in circulation, and letting someone read a book for free is an ideal way to recruit them into a particular author's fan following. And if a library receives multiple requests for more of an author's book list, then they're far more likely to follow through and actually get the books in question.
Lots of Small Gestures Add Up To Big Changes
Any time you stop to ask if something is really worth the effort, let me assure you that it is. Every book you buy, every link you share, and every review you leave makes a difference. Heck, even doing something simple like signing up for an author's email list (you can sign up for mine at this link or by scrolling down the page to get weekly updates) is one more drop in their buckets.
The thing is, it takes a lot of drops to fill that bucket to the top. So if you're looking for more things you can do to help the creators you love, take a moment to check out 10 Concrete Ways You Can Help The Authors You Like for more suggestions!
Like, Follow, and Stay Tuned!
That's all for this week's Business of Writing! If you'd like to see more of my work, take a look at my Vocal archive, or at My Amazon Author Page where you can find books like my sword and sorcery novel Crier's Knife as well as my recent collection The Rejects!
If you'd like to help support my work, then consider Buying Me A Ko-Fi, or heading over to The Literary Mercenary's Patreon page! Lastly, to keep up with my latest, follow me on Facebook, Tumblr, Twitter, and now on Pinterest as well!
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