elissa’s Comments (group member since Dec 21, 2007)

elissa’s comments from the Sylvia Engdahl Discussion and Q&A group.

Other people may have other opinions about all this, BUT I think you can send reviews to the Adult Acquisitions Librarian at library systems that you're interested in giving a book to. I think that reviews of your YA novels would help (like you said, to show that you aren't an amateur writer), too, but that you don't want to overwhelm with too much info. It's a fine line between just enough and too much, but I think most librarians can handle looking at a page (possibly even double-sided) of quotes advertising a book.

I was delighted to see this morning that you had rated a bunch of books on goodreads! They all look really interesting, and while I usually read novels, I like a good nonfiction book every now and then. WHY ZEBRAS DON'T GET ULCERS definitely looks like something I'd enjoy.

Most library systems have ways to order books that aren't carried by distributors. Some library systems give book purchasers credit cards with a small amount of money that can be used at bookstores and at online stores like Amazon. Some libraries also use "Friends" (Friends of the Library) money to order books that they can't get through distributors. Usually the reason that we're ordering books in this way is that we have a patron request that we want to fill quickly.

The main problem is that unless they've already read the book, most librarians will want to look at reviews before purchasing. Once you have good online reviews, you can definitely send them, with a copy of the book to library systems. I didn't realize that ALL of the major review journals had to have a copy of the book 3 months prior to publication in order to review it! Since your book is print-on-demand, it seems silly to have to apply that rule to it. And, unfortunately, many librarians who receive unsolicited copies of self-published books from an author they haven't heard of WON'T be willing to consider them.

That probably wasn't horribly helpful, but if I think of anything else, I'll post again!