I've been a self-publisher now for 4 years. The idea of sending a manuscript to a traditional publisher never appealed to me. The expense of printing and then waiting for a likely disappointing reply wasn't what I wanted. I hoped to publish my book straight away, the opinion of my friends and family where the only ones I valued at that point. Since then I have been on a fascinating journey into the world of publishing and marketing. This book caught my eye as it opens up a whole other world of getting your work read; Libraries. This was an academic work but fairly easy to digest and it gave a good insight to the library system. I was actually pleasantly surprised that I had already taken the first step into getting onto the US-library shelves. I published my first book 'Language in the Blood' on Amazon. Later to make it perma-free I also published on smash-words. They pass their catalogue of books onto Overdrive; the system most used by US libraries for e-books. This book helped again with my still very steep learning curve. Excellent work Denise Weldon-Siviy. 5 stars.
Self-Publishing and Libraries:What Librarians and Self-Publishers Need to Know by Denise Weldon-Siviy on Amazon.co.uk
This was a well-researched and documented book. I would say
a must for the self-published writer who wants to get a deeper understanding of
our industry. Denise Weldon-Siviy is uniquely qualified to write this book
having worked in libraries and being a self-published writer. Her academic
background gives her the skills to research this complex issue. As she states
in her book; most self-published authors are very open to having their works in
public libraries. Now I know why it isn’t that straight forward. Even donating
your book to a local library won’t get you on the shelves as the cost of
cataloguing is often too heavy for a small library with limited skilled
employees. I will give this 5 stars because of the thorough research and useful
information provided. One small drawback this has for me is that it is aimed at
the US market and things are a little different for the UK and other markets.
(That being said, there is still a lot of really useful info there for non-US
writers as the market is so global now.) But if you are a US based writer or
librarian I can recommend it.
