Getting Your Book into Campus
Libraries and More!
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QUESTION
Re university bookstores:
I know that Random House had my book in their catalog targeting educational sellers. Is there more than that I can do? How would I
I know that Random House had my book in their catalog targeting educational sellers. Is there more than that I can do? How would I
1. identify them and
2. approach them?
ANSWER
I'm
going to use my husband's experience with his What Foreigners Need to Know
About America from A to Z as an example because he was so successful with it.
He
put together a form letter (which he tweaks) depending on who he is sending it
to. He goes online and finds areas on campus that could use his book. That
includes
1.
Libraries
2.
International Student Programs
3.
International Student Course Teachers
4.
Campus Bookstore Buyers
5.
ESL classes through extension
He
spends about 30 minutes a day sending the letter to the correct person when
possible. Sometimes that's only one contact. Some days, when research goes
well, it's three or four. He's had some amazing successes like having his
book chosen as gifts/recommendations by the university that hosts the Fulbright
Scholars in the US each summer. There is a cost to it beyond time. He offers a
free book to those influencers who show an interest, but these most often don't
result in single book sales, either. The top sale we could trace to his letters
(it's sometimes easier for self-published authors to trace sales to a specific
effort) was 59 copies.
Be
aware, that if you find an instructor who recommends your book or uses is at
class reading, the bookstore often stocks the book automatically. But not
always. It doesn’t hurt to mention in a separate query or phone call that your
book was ordered for a specific class or that Professor X showed an interest in
your book.
One
more secret. He keeps at it.
Here’s
an alternative that isn't as frugal and not as effective because the contact is
not personal (but it’s a lot less time-consuming!):
IBPA
(Independent Book Publishers Association) had a catalog that they send out
to libraries, a separate one to university libraries and one to
reviewers. I've used that program. It can be good...or
not. Depending on the title.
-----
Carolyn Howard-Johnson
brings her experience as a publicist, journalist, marketer, and retailer to the
advice she gives in her HowToDoItFrugally series of books for writers and the many
classes she taught for nearly a decade as instructor for UCLA Extension’s
world-renown Writers’ Program. All her books for writers are multi award
winners including the first edition of The Frugal Book
Promoter published in 2003. Her The
Frugal Editor, now in its second edition, won awards from USA Book
News, Readers’ Views Literary Award, the marketing award from Next Generation
Indie Books and others including the coveted Irwin award.
Howard-Johnson
is the recipient of the California Legislature’s Woman of the Year in Arts and
Entertainment Award, and her community’s Character and Ethics award for her
work promoting tolerance with her writing. She was also named to Pasadena
Weekly’s list of “Fourteen San Gabriel Valley women who make life happen” and
was given her community’s Diamond Award for Achievement in the Arts.
The author
loves to travel. She has visited eighty-nine countries and has studied writing
at Cambridge University in the United Kingdom; Herzen University in St.
Petersburg, Russia; and Charles University, Prague. She admits to carrying a
pen and journal wherever she goes. Her Web site is www.howtodoitfrugally.com.
