‘The Seeker,’ ‘The Sailor’ and your novel via e-book lending
I’m happy to announce that the first two contemporary fantasies in my “Garden of Heaven” Trilogy are now available for e-book check-out in Banks, Barrow and Jackson counties in Georgia via the Piedmont Regional Library. (If you live in those counties, click on the graphic to learn more.)
If you’re a small-press author, your publisher may distribute books to some outlets, including libraries, via Smashwords. If the public libraries in your area don’t also use Smashwords, this will be a roadblock to getting your e-books into the system.
I live in the metropolitan Atlanta area where the multi-county library systems have standardized on e-book lending managed by OverDrive.
While I’ve donated paperback copies of my novels to many libraries in the area, they didn’t have my e-books because their lending systems weren’t the same one my publisher uses. When I talked to the Piedmont Regional Library about this, they said that OverDrive has a provision that will allow libraries to upload an epub file into the system.
This provision allows libraries to carry indie author and small press books that aren’t available in OverDrive. Since many libraries have prided themselves on having what I call a “buy local, read local” approach, ask your librarian about this provision and whether or not they have used it as yet. If your books are on Smashwords, you have easy access to an epub version.
Unless you’re widely known in your community and/or have been very active in Friends of the Library and other similar activities, you’ll probably have to take the initiative on getting your books accepted into your public library’s system. Send the library an e-mail after learning which e-lending program they use.
You will probably have to donate the ebpub file, but it’s a small price to pay when you think of all the people who will be able to enjoy reading the book.
