I’ve seen this question a lot. Often it’s phrased negatively like, “How do you feel about people checking out your book from a library instead of buying a copy?” I know there are authors who resent libraries, but I believe they’re a fairly small minority. Most of us love libraries, especially when we have written multiple books.
Why? Do we really get big piles of money from library sales? Not really. But that’s not the point.
I gained a new perspective on libraries when I was invited to give a keynote speech to a group of librarians about merchandising like a bookstore. Researching that talk renewed a love of libraries that goes all the way back to when I volunteered at my high school library. It led me to think about the similarities between bookstores and libraries.
As an author and a former bookstore owner, I’ve often said there is a symbiotic relationship between authors and indie bookstores. There’s a similar relationship between authors and libraries.
From the library’s point of view, they are serving their community by stocking books that people want to read and inviting authors to events. Not all book lovers are into e-readers. Many love the experience of a printed book. Unfortunately, most of us don’t have the budget to buy books as fast as we read them, and don’t have the space to store a gigantic collection in our homes. Libraries solve those problems.
I think most people already know that side of the equation; it’s pretty easy to understand. But what about the other side of the equation? What’s in it for the authors?
It all starts when a library buys one of our books. We get our usual royalty. After a few more of these sales, we’ll have enough to buy a cup of really good tea at our favorite tea house!
Hopefully, we move on to the next step: people check out the book and read it. If they enjoy it, they’ll tell their friends, who will also want to read it. If a lot of people want to check out the book, the library will buy more copies—which is more royalties.
Some of those friends won’t want to wait for the library copy to become available. Some of them do like to own books rather than borrow them. These friends will buy their own copy— more royalties!
If we’ve done our job well, the person who checked out our book—and all of their friends who read it , too — will love it. That means they will look for more of our books (what publishers call our “backlist”). If the library doesn’t have them, at least some of those people will go to a store and buy them—more royalties.
If the librarians think the book is good, and we certainly hope they will, they might end up recommending it to a book club. Some will check out the book; some will buy a copy—more royalties.
In other words, libraries give us a larger audience and more fans. That one copy they initially order doesn’t mean a lot of money; probably a buck or two in royalties. What matters, though, is the number of readers who get turned on to our books and want to buy more.
If we’re lucky, the library may even host a reading or signing, which gets us even more publicity because they’ll promote it through posters and ads. Even people who don’t attend the event will see our name and hopefully get curious enough to want to read the book(s).
I’d love to have everyone reading this immediately buy copies of my books. But you know what? I’ll be just as happy if you head down to your local library and check out a copy. And if they don’t carry it, request it. That’s the way to make an author happy!
Gary D. Robson 