Libraries as a Discovery Tool by SELF-e Ambassador Victoria Noe
Posted by Kathleen Pooler/@kathypooler with Victoria Noe/@Victoria_Noe
“Ever since the self-publishing boom took off, authors and industry types have bemoaned the ‘discoverability problem.’ How can a new author, especially a self-publishing one, possibly get discovered in the tsunami of content flooding the market? ” James Scott Bell
Please join me in welcoming author, speaker, blogger and SELF_e Ambassador Victoria Noe in this guest post. Victoria has worked tirelessly to build her platform as a successful self-published author of The Friend Grief Series, which explores the impact of a death of a friend. Viki and I met in Dan Blank’s Build Your Author Platform Course in 2011 and have been friends ever since. I am thrilled that Viki agreed to do this post on The SELF_e program and explain how it can help authors get their books into the hands of readers. I am pleased to say that my memoir, Ever Faithful to His Lead: My Journey Away From Emotional Abuse is currently in the New York State Library System of all libraries that subscribe to Bibliolabs.
Welcome back, Vicki!
Author, Speaker, Self-e Ambassador Victoria Noe
Libraries as a Tool for Discovery
Perhaps the greatest challenge for independent authors is discoverability. Fabulous books go unread and unnoticed, because their authors can’t find a way to set themselves apart from the millions of options readers available to readers.
One of the toughest markets to crack is the library market. I love librarians. My grandmother, who came to this country when she was three years old, thought the two greatest jobs were nurse and librarian, because they both help people. I guess my love for them is genetic.
Librarians traditionally rely on reviews in mainstream library publications and publisher-driven book tours to add to their collections. And that usually leaves out those who are not traditionally published.
So I was honored last year to be one of the first indie authors approached to be part of Library Journal’s SELF-e program. The first four books in my Friend Grief series are included in the Illinois state collection and the national Select collection. I am, in fact, their first Ambassador (no tiara, sadly, but hoping for a sash). Whenever I have a table at an author event, or do a book signing or talk, I include SELF-e in my materials and speech.
The SELF-e program is a collaboration between Library Journal and BiblioLabs designed to cultivate robust local writing communities and keep libraries at the center of the indie book movement. SELF-e helps self-published authors and indie presses expand their readership while adding new and diverse indie eBooks to library catalogs across the country. To learn more about how you can get your ebooks into libraries, visit their website.
Authors who hold the rights to their e-books can easily upload them
to the SELF-e website. How many you upload is your choice. Maybe you have a series, like I do. You can upload all or part of the series, or just the first one.
The process is user-friendly, so you can upload your book in 15 minutes or less. When you do, you select the state collection that’s most appropriate.
By now you probably have lots of questions, so here is the link to the FAQ section of the website. If you prefer, you can also check out SELF-e’s Vimeo album.
A number of authors have argued “Why should I do this if I don’t make any money?” It’s true: this is a marketing tool. At this point, you are not paid when libraries pick up the SELF-e state and Select collections for their patrons. But as I said at the beginning, this is about ‘discoverability’.
This is how you benefit:
Libraries – like their patrons – are looking for good e-books. Librarians don’t have the time or funding to purchase individual titles, much less read them. But you have Library Journal connected to your name. No publication is more respected among librarians. It’s a ‘Good Housekeeping Seal of Approval’ that identifies your books as quality additions to any collection.
Have you approached your local libraries about purchasing your books or hosting a talk? If you have, you know two things: they love local authors and they’re overwhelmed. By inclusion in SELF-e, you have a connection to them. Now, when you pitch a reading you can say, “You already have my book(s) in your SELF-e collection.” Again, that sets you apart and enables them to form partnerships with local authors to promote their e-book collection.
Not all libraries are part of SELF-e. This is a fairly new program. But the difference for me was that Library Journal is behind it. That’s a level of professionalism that I want associated with my books.
Now that the basic program is up and running in all 50 states, SELF-e is announcing two terrific developments. One is a “buy link” button. When library patrons read your e-book, they can now be directed to the website page of your choice to make a purchase. For the first book in my series, I chose the page on my website that lists the entire series, with links to Amazon, Barnes & Noble, IndieBound and more. This is for patrons, not librarians. It’s still up you to you talk to the librarians about purchasing your print versions.
Some SELF-e Events:
The second is a nationwide event: Indie Author Day, October 8. Mark it on your calendar. Library Journal will be working with libraries across the country to highlight their local authors. You do not have to be a SELF-e author to participate.
SELF-e hosts a live Twitter Chat–#selfechat-– on the third Thursday of each month at 3:00pmET about the latest news in the community, including genre-based contests.
Ways to promote SELF-e programs:
As you can see in the picture, when I’m at an author event, or do a reading of my own, I bring SELF-e materials. I talk to the authors and I also talk to the librarians. I was a vendor with the Chicago Public Schools for fifteen years, selling books to the librarians. I understand their challenges, so I emphasize the ease of using SELF-e: already curated e-books by local authors. And yes, I tell them I’d love to give a talk to their patrons.
Illinois Library Association Table
At Book Expo America last week I was introduced to a library board trustee for a suburban Chicago library. After chatting for a short time she handed me her card and invited me to speak at her library. It was all because I was identified as a SELF-e author and ambassador.
So, inclusion in the SELF-e collections is a free and easy way to reach library patrons in your state (and possibly across the country). It puts the trusted name of Library Journal behind your books.
I hope you’ll join me in what is already proving to be a great marketing tool in my business.
Author Bio:
I’ve been a writer most of my life, but didn’t admit it until 2009.
After earning a master’s degree in Speech and Dramatic Art from the University of Iowa, I moved to Chicago, where I worked professionally as a stage manager, director and administrator in addition to being a founding board member of the League of Chicago Theatres. I discovered I was good at fundraising, and ventured out on my own, raising millions for arts, educational and AIDS service organizations, and later became an award-winning sales consultant of children’s books. But when a concussion ended my sales career, I decided to finally keep a promise to a dying friend to write a book.
That book became a series of small books. The first three – Friend Grief and Anger: When Your Friend Dies and No One Gives A Damn; Friend Grief and AIDS: Thirty Years of Burying Our Friends and Friend Grief and 9/11: The Forgotten Mourners were published in 2013. Friend Grief and the Military: Band of Friends, was published in May, 2014 and earned Honorable Mention in the 2015 Chicago Writers Association Book of the Year Awards. Friend Grief in the Workplace: More Than an Empty Cubicle was published in August, 2015 and the final book, Friend Grief and Men: Defying Stereotypes will be released in 2016.
I’ve begun work on an exciting and intimidating book, Fag Hags, Divas and Moms: The Legacy of Straight Women in the AIDS Community, on track to be published in 2017.
In October, 2015, Library Journal named me their first SELF-e Ambassador. The first four e-books in the Friend Grief series are included in their Illinois and National collections.
I’ve spoken at Writers Digest Conference, Book Expo America and their UPublishU self-publishing day. My articles have appeared on a variety of grief and writing blogs as well as Windy City Times, Chicago Tribune and Huffington Post. My essay, “Long Term Survivor” won the 2015 Christopher Hewitt Award for Creative Nonfiction from A&U Magazine.
I’m a card-carrying member of Alliance of Independent Authors (ALLi), Chicago Writers Association and ACT UP/NY (just kidding – we don’t have membership cards in ACT UP).
In my copious spare time, I feed my reading habit by reviewing a wide variety of books on BroadwayWorld.com. A native St. Louisan, I’m a lifelong Cardinals fan and will gladly take on any comers in musical theatre trivia.
You can follow all the fun at www.VictoriaNoe.com
The sixth and final book in The Friend Grief Series:
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Thank you,Viki, for showing us how SELF-e can help us all increase our readership. If you don’t own the rights to your eBook, SELF-e also works with publishers to get books in the system. It seems like a win-win situation for libraries and authors. I highly recommend this program for self-published authors.
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How about you? Have you considered submitting your book to SELF-e? Do you have any questions for Viki?
Viki has graciously offered to give away an eBook copy of her sixth and last book in the Friend Grief Series: Friend Grief and Men: Defying Stereotypes to a commenter whose name will be selected in a random drawing.
We’d love to hear from you. Please leave your comments below~
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Monday, 5/30/16:
May 2016 Newsletter: “Bursting Forth in May”
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6/06/16:
“How Writing My Memoir Helped Me Reframe My Life Story”
