Most self-published authors focus on selling their books to readers, but this isn’t your only option for getting your stories into readers’ hands. One avenue that is often under-explored by independent authors is getting their book into libraries.

The librarian at my small county library orders books by Susan Stoker, Lani Vale, and other independent authors that feature ex-military or MC characters for a group of octogenarian woman. Lani Vale’s books alone take up three shelves!

Libraries not only spend a great deal of money on books, but they’re a way to get your book in front of readers who may later buy your books.

Find out how to prepare your book to meet library standards and how to reach libraries to ask them to carry your book,

The Library Market for Self-Published Books

As a self-published romance author, your pathway to libraries is different from that of traditionally published authors, but it’s doable.

At one time, libraries viewed self-published books with skepticism, but today, librarians increasingly recognize the value and diversity that self-published titles bring to their collections. In an article about library distribution, the Alliance of Independent Authors (ALLI) reported that 92 percent of librarians regularly purchase from self-published authors and small presses.

When selecting books to order, libraries consider factors like reader demand, reviews from trusted sources, the book’s relevance to their current collection, and its overall quality. Additionally, librarians will often consider books of local interest, and/or by local authors. But even if your book isn’t about area locations or you don’t live in the area, you can still ask them to carry your book.

Preparing Your Self-Published Book for Library Standards

Here are the key elements that will polish your romance novel for library distribution:

Professional Presentation: It’s true that books are judged by their covers. First impressions count, and for books, this begins with the cover. Invest in a professional cover design that captures the essence of your romance novel while maintaining a look that fits comfortably on library shelves.

ISBN & Barcode: Alongside an eye-catching cover, ensure your book has an ISBN and a barcode. These are necessary for cataloging and sales tracking. Depending on your printing source (e.g. Amazon or Ingram Spark), you can obtain an ISBN for your book through your printer. Or you can purchase from Bowker. One ISBN is $125, but you can buy 10 for $295, which is clearly a better deal. Remember, each version of your book (print, ebook, audio) has its own ISBN.

Quality Binding: Libraries love books that endure, and binding plays a big part in this. Remember, this isn’t one reader buying your book and reading once or twice. This will be a library book that has the potential to be read a hundred times or more. Opt for high-quality binding that can withstand frequent handling.

Editing and Formatting: You should have professional editing regardless of where you sell your book, but it’s especially so for libraries.  Typos, grammatical errors, and formatting faux pas can be off-putting. Invest in professional editing services to ensure your book reads smoothly and maintains a high standard. Proper formatting, including a clean, readable font and well-structured layout, makes your book inviting and accessible.

Categorization and Clarity: Libraries are all about organization. Help librarians place your book in the right spot by clearly categorizing your romance novel. Is it historical romance, contemporary, paranormal? Clear labeling helps librarians and readers alike find your book where they expect it to be. If possible, include the subcategories that help librarians find books their readers want, such as the categories of the ladies in my area who like ex-military heroes and MC romances.

eBook Standards: Don’t forget that libraries lend ebooks (and audio books) as well. If offering a digital version, ensure it’s compatible with common library eBook platforms like OverDrive (Libby) or Hoopla. Formatting for eBooks requires a different approach, focusing on readability across various devices.

Metadata: Ensure your title, author name, ISBN, and descriptions are consistently and accurately represented across all platforms. This makes it easier for libraries (and readers) to find your book.

Distributors and Aggregators for Self-Published Authors

You can walk into your local library and ask them to buy your book or donate it, but to get your book in libraries across the country, you’ll need to work with a distributor.

Think of distributors as the middlemen who handle everything from storage and shipping to managing relationships with libraries. But here’s the catch: not all distributors are keen on self-published books. This is where doing your homework pays off. Look for distributors like IngramSpark or Baker & Taylor, which are more receptive to self-published titles, especially ones that have a professional touch and a unique appeal. Amazon offers expanded distribution into libraries as well.

Ebooks are distributed to Overdrive (read through Libby app) or Hoopla. Distributers that can do this for you include Draft2Digital (D2D), StreetLib, and PublishDrive. These resources should also be able to make your books available through Bibliotheca and Baker and Taylor’s Axis 360.

For audio books, you can apply direct to Overdrive, but a better option is likely to use Findaway Voices (which also distributes to Spotify).

Pricing Your Book

Pricing your book right is crucial. Libraries have budgets, and your book needs to fit within their financial constraints. Research the pricing of similar titles in your genre and find a sweet spot that makes your book an attractive purchase for libraries without undercutting your worth. It’s important to note that often the prices for libraries is higher than the retail price. Remember, you’re selling libraries a book that will be available to multiple readers and will be read multiple times, so it’s a little different than a single sale to a reader. Some distributors, such as Draft2Digital, will recommend a library price.

Contacting Libraries

Remember that first you need to have your book in a distribution channel that libraries order from (see above). At that point, your book is available for order. But instead of waiting and hoping they find your book, you can reach out to libraries to introduce them to your book. To do that, you need to prepare a query that tells libraries who you are, about your book (genre, blurb, etc), why their readers will love it, where they can get it, and any additional data you can provide that supports the book’s appeal.

Some tidbits to collect for your pitch include:

• Reviews and testimonials
• Social Media Buzz (especially social media that talks about your book, but also you can share your own social media)
• Awards
• Appearances

Your Marketing Pitch: Your marketing pitch needs to hook the librarian and persuade them to buy your book. Highlight what makes your romance novel unique, its appeal to their readers, and why it’s a must-have in their collection. Be sincere, be passionate, and most importantly, be clear about what sets your book apart.

You also might also want to consider offering a reading or doing a presentation as part of your pitch. With zoom, it’s easy for you to be available for library programming, book clubs, and more. If you tie your book into something you believe will appeal to the librarian, offering this extra bit of service can help. If the library is local or within driving distance, consider doing an in-person events. I have ALWAYS sold out when I’ve done in person events at libraries.

Professional Press Kit: A press kit is like your novel’s résumé. Include a captivating author bio, a synopsis that intrigues, high-quality images of the cover, and any reviews or endorsements you’ve garnered. Don’t forget to add your book’s ISBN, details about where the book is available, and your contact information. Write with Harte has a one-page media kit template you can use in Canva (it’s in the Freebies Resources). It’s free for WWH members. Not a member? Join for free!

Finding Libraries to Contact: Once you have your pitch letter and press kit, you need to contact libraries. To do that, you need to have library contact information. You can search Google for individual libraries, or you can buy lists but usually that is for snail mailing, and the listings may not be a fit for what you’re trying to do. Library Marketing Services has several lists provided in a spreadsheet with 3,000 to 6,000 libraries. Most of their list options are under $50.

Steps for Contacting Libraries

1. Have your materials ready and know what your goal is. Do you want to introduce your book? Do you have a new release? Maybe you want to introduce your series.
2. Select the libraries you plan to reach out. Do you want to focus on libraries in your area or in the area your book takes place?
3. Decide how you’re going to email. Your emails should be addressed to the librarian by name. You can do that by emailing them one at a time from your author email account. To save time, you can bulk email, BUT you need to use an option with a mail merge to enter the name of the librarian so it doesn’t come off as spam bulk email. If you’re a Microsoft user, here is a tutorial on using Mail Merge to Send Bulk Email. Or you can use a bulk email service like ClickBack, which isn’t cheap, but it will clean and check the emails on your list, which can help protect your email reputation.
4. When emailing, use your pitch created above. Open with a hook, something to catch the librarian’s attention. It could be a review or a tagline. Provide all the information the librarian needs (Title, ISBN, blurb, author, etc), but be succinct too. End your email by thanking them for their consideration of your book.

Librarian Pitch Letter Template

Hello [Name of Librarian],

[Hook: Review or tagline]

[Title] is a [genre-subgenre e.g. contemporary romance) with tropes of [list tropes]. The book is available through library distributors such as [list distributors]. The book is perfect for your readers who love [info about your book and perhaps heat level, e.g. southern romance novels with a little spice].

I am [Your name] and I [about you…why you wrote this book or your awards or anything else that would appeal to a librarian about you and your book ]. [name of libraries] have added [title] to their collections and I was hoping that [name of the library you’re pitching] would be interested in adding [title] to their collection as well.

I’d be happy to [event suggestion if offering to do an event].

Here is more information about [title]:

Paperback ISBN (note that a hardback will have its own ISBN as well):
eBook ISBN:
Audio ISBN:

Blurb:

Author Website:

Thank you for considering offering [title] to your readers.

Sincerely,

[your name]

Do you have questions or other ideas on how to get your books into libraries? Let me know in the comments below.

Updated December 2023

I received the following question through the WWH Weekly Call topic list and thought I’d answer it here as well.

Ugh. I just did taxes, as a first year romance author. I looooovvveeee this business, but I’m wondering if I can really make a profit and how. I work a full time job so 2021 I did All. The. Things. Because I could afford to, I tried everything, bought everything, advertised the heck out of everything. Now for 2022 I’m pulling back, focusing on the things I found that work and not spending money on things that don’t in terms of marketing my books. So I’m writing my second series now, and sifting through my data to find where to get the most bank for (budgeted) marketing dollars. I guess my question is, what are some tips to becoming profitable as a romance author?

This is the million-dollar question. Like this author, I’ve done all the things and have watched while other authors who started after me zoom (or so it seemed) to the top of the bestseller list, making money hand over fist. Why is that? What were they doing?

Before I get into tips to becoming profitable, or at least making more than you spend, here are a few things you need to consider.

1. There is a reason most self-pub programs tell you to write to market. Some go as far as to tell you to write spicy or clean (apparently nothing in between) romance. Writing what people are devouring is, theoretically, an easier sell than to people who don’t read a subject so much. However, I’m not telling you to write to market, because sometimes chasing the sale by writing something that you’re not passionate about has it’s own problems. But it is clear that finding the right readers for your book is the crucial element to success.
2. There is a reason most publishing gurus tell you to be in Kindle Unlimited, especially if you’re a romance writer. Romance readers are voracious. They read more than they could possibly afford if they had to pay retail. Many of these readers consume 2 or 3, maybe more books a week. Sometimes a day! It’s more affordable (and justifiable to the budget) to pay $9.99 a month and read to their heart’s content. However, while KU can be a good option for new authors, or for a 90-day release period, there are many authors who do well with wide distribution or selling directly from their websites.

So why am I giving you contradictory information? Because when it comes to success, to a certaint extent you’ll have find your own sweetspot based on your goals and readers.

What we do know it that there are two things you definitely need:

1. A book readers love. Today, the ginormous sales of books is due in large part to readers telling others about your book and all of them loving it enough to tell more readers. This is how Colleen Hoover, Elle Kennedy, Lucy Score and others have found success.
2. Packaging makes a difference. Covers are the first thing readers see when considering your book. It needs to appeal to them, giving them a message that your book offers what they want. My Valentine Mystery series got all new covers because I wanted to better target romance readers, who are a better fit for the books than mystery readers (because I include sexy bits!). The same cover artist did both (see below). Same interior, but totally different vibe, right? It’s important that you think of your cover as a marketing tool. Here is my take on how readers choose books. Authors they love then, with new or unknown authors: Genre > Tropes > Cover > Blurb > Reviews (often checking the lower ones first).

Tips on Becoming a Profitable Romance Author

Okay, so now you have a sense of what you’ll right and for whom, the importance of a good story, and an appealing cover. Let’s move on to making money!

Marketing your book is different when you are brand new than when you already have a book or two or three under your belt. Let’s start with new authors (first book) and novice authors (have books but are still growing).

Marketing for New Authors

If you build it and put it on Amazon, the readers still may not come…even in KU. It’s crucial that new authors start marketing as soon as possible BEFORE publishing your book.

If you’re still writing, start talking about your book.

There are two advantages to starting your marketing now;

1) You develop a system and habit of maintaining your platforms (social media, website, email etc), so it’s easier to incorporate more marketing tasks later. You don’t want to do all the things at the same time your book is launching.

2) You have a group of people ready to buy your book when it publishes.

Learn who your readers are and where they hang out.

When it comes time to market your book, you need to reach out to these people so figuring out who they are and where you can find them is important. Follow authors that write in the same genre (social media, website/blog, email etc). This will not only help you get ideas for what you can do with your fans, but also, you can meet and learn about their readers…who are your readers too. CAUTION: Don’t promote yourself on other author’s platforms unless they say it’s okay.

Figure out the best place to find your readers, and create a profile. Publish tidbits of writing, things you’ve learned in your research, and other topics readers of your genre would be interested in.

Build your platforms and invite people to visit.

We’re back to that “if you build it, they will come” concept. It doesn’t work except in A Field of Dreams. In the real world, Ray would have had to go out and tell the world about his baseball field in a cornfield.

Of course, first he needed his baseball field, which you do to in the form of a website and email list.

But next, you need to find people to invite to your cornfield…or in this case, website and email list. People won’t come by cosmic magic of Shoeless Joe Jackson. You need to go out and find readers where they are, and invite them to join you at your place. This leads us to two goals in marketing:

1. Sell books
2. Build community

Selling books is first because that’s your ultimate goal. But it’s transactional; one person, one sale. What happens with your next book? You’re starting from scratch again. This is were building a community is your best bet. Sure you may get people who accidentally find you on Amazon and buy, but most successful authors (the big money makers) are making their money from existing readers buying new releases. They got those existing readers by creating places for the readers to come visit them and giving them a reason to stay. These authors stay actively involved with their readers so that when a new book comes; the readers are ready to buy.

The challenge of building a community is that you need to give readers a reason to want to follow you (i.e. a free novella or other romance-related freebie) and continue to give them things (entertainment, fun, and books) so they keep on following you. This is the equivalent of the slow burn romance (sorry, changing metaphors). It takes time to woo them, but when you do, they’re loyal and loving!

Think of it this way; some of the most successful romance writers have 20,000 to 100,000 email subscribers on their list. When they have a release, how many people do you think buy when they get an email on the new release? Probably not all 20k to 100k but I bet it’s more than anyone who doesn’t have a list, except Nora Roberts and her ilk. If only a thousand to five thousand bought, that would still be a lot. A $3.99 Kindle book, would earn (@2.99 profit/book) $2,990 to $14,950. If they’re KU readers, the earnings come through page reads. Two-hundred and fifty page reads over 1000 people would earn approximately $1,100. However, consider that more people may grab the KU version, which could lead to more downloads than if the book was purchased, in which case, you’d earn more. With a single email, these authors are making $2,500 and more.

So, I’ve taken the long route to say that you want to think beyond book sales and instead in terms of building a community of readers around you. You want to give them something they want and to engage with them regularly, and when book releases happen, they’ll be there to buy.

What is a community?

Community is where you readers can congregate to hang out with each other and you based around the writing you do. There are basically two ways to build a reader community and you should consider both.

The email list is crucial since you have readers’ email addresses. When a reader give you an email address, that’s a bigger commitment and show of support than a simple follow on social media. However, you can build a group on Facebook, Discord, or some other place where readers can engage with you (you could build your own reader group here on Write With Harte!).

So how do you find people to join  your community?

If you have ZERO readers, followers, fans…

1. Create something readers in your genre would like. Ideally it’s a book or novella you’ve written, but it can be something else as long as it’s something your target market (the people who read your type of book) reads.
2. Create an email list. This is a big topic. I have a link to an article here to tell you more about email and how you can use it to become a profitable author. Put the email list sign up on a website, blog, FB page or other place you can tell people where to get it. Note that Aweber has an easy way to make a landing page so you don’t need to build another site. You can get a free trial of Aweber here
3. Start a Facebook or Discord group under your author name and invite people to join. Consider making it private and offer some extra stuff you don’t share elsewhere. It will make it seem more exclusive.
4. Pick a limited number of places to hangout on social media. You can’t be everywhere all the time and tryin to do so will lead to burnout and lower results. Facebook, for all its faults, is a good place to be unless you can prove your reader isn’t on Facebook. IOf course, if your reader is under 35 years old or younger, TikTok is a prime location. After that, think of other places your reader hangs out to learn or talk about romance books, and decide if you can actively maintain participation on the platform. The active participation is important. If your reader is on TikTok but you can’t stay consistent on the platform, maybe that’s not the place for you or you need to figure out how to you can be consistant.

Once you have your “ball field” in place, it’s time to get people to visit you:

1. Ads aren’t free but can be effective at quickly building a community if you have offers readers like and you can effectively target those readers.
2. Giveaway programs such as Bookfunnel or  Prolific Works offer an easy way to build your list while helping others build their list as well.
3. As your email list grows, do newsletter swaps, where you tell your readers about another author and they tell their readers about you. You’ll need to swap with lists that are a similar size to yours. If you have 1000 subscribers, you’ll swap with someone in the same genre with around 1000 subscribers. There are Facebook groups that have authors who want to swap, or use Bookfunnel or Bookclicker.
4. Tell your friends and family to share with others they think would be interested in what you’re doing.

There are more ideas in the email email article posted here

For first-time authors (first book coming out):

• Continue to build your list and community how ever you’ve done it before (as long as it’s working).
• Join Bookbub and start keeping it updated with your books and asking your community to follow you. It’s free to have a Bookbub profile and its where many romance readers keep track of what they read and their favorite authors.
• Be a guest. Go on podcasts and guest blog. Try to focus on outlets that target your reader, not other writers. This is a great way to share your new book and even better, it’s free.
• Takeover events. I did a lot of takeovers when I started and many of my fans came from it. These are free and can be really fun.
• Run ads. Successful authors I know run ads nearly all the time. But for a new author on a budget, consider running your ad during your presale and a few days after launch. Ads more than anything can jack up your sales if you don’t have a large community of readers. If you have been building a BookBub following and have around 1000 followers, try to get a Bookbub ad.

For novice authors:

If you’ve already been doing the above and other tasks to market your books, you’ll want to start first by looking at the results of your efforts. Did the FB ad bring new subscribers or sales? Is your Facebook group engaged and if not, is it because you need to be more interesting? Is your email list responsive? If your list has a low open rate all around (17% or less) and/or low click through rate or high unsubscribes, then you’ll want to figure out why.

As you grow your author business, there are two things you need to do to make the big bucks:

1. Evaluate your results regularly. Data is your friend. It’s what will tell you what’s working and what isn’t. However, if something isn’t working, consider tweaking or assessing why. Maybe you need to make a simple change to get results. So don’t abandon a strategy without determining if you can make it work.
2. Keep on top of new trends in book marketing. Things that worked last year, may not work this year. There might be a brand new service or idea (i.e. BookTok) that you should consider. Staying active in author marketing resources, especially romance ones, will help you keep on top of what is working and not working for others. Note, that you can’t do all the things, but you may need to shift and change as time goes on, but you need to use your data to help you decide when and what to change.

Think Outside the Box

Recently, Amazon messed up payments to its authors. If you hang out with authors on social media, you may come across authors who’ve been banned for reasons they don’t understand from Amazon.

One of the challenges of making a living as an author is that you rely on Amazon and/or other retailers to sell your books. But things have been changing and more and more authors are taking advantage of alternative ways to reach readers. Regardless of if you’re new, struggling, or successful, you should consider diversifying your book distribution and how you engage with readers through options such as:

Direct sales (setting up your own storefront)

Subscription (e.g. Ream or Patreon)

Serials (e.g. Vella, Radish, etc)

To learn more, check out 12 New and Emerging Opportunities for Romance Authors

So, where I’m I spending my time?

I spend much of my time building my email list, which I do mostly through social media and Bookfunnel giveaways and occasional swaps (set up through Bookfunnel). When I’m at events, I have a paper on a clipboard and a QR code where people can sign up for my list as well.

I run ads off and on. They don’t seem to do as well as they used to, so they’re something that needs to be monitored daily. I usually run ads when I have something new or want to re-introduce book one when a later book in the series is coming out.

I spent this year doing a ton of FB takeovers. They were a blast and did increase my subscribers and following. I don’t necessarily see it reflected in my sales though.

For 2024, I’m refocusing my time with my reader group and street team, building a subscription income option, as well as selling wide and direct. This requires me to make some shifts in marketing which includes spending more time with my reader group and offering cool stuff, and restarting blogging.

I have also hired PR help who is assisting me in getting books out to reviewers and influencers. Admittedly, after nearly 8 months, I’m not seeing the results I’d hoped for.

Writing a book is hard, but selling it is harder (I think). It’s important to see author success as a marathon. It might look like some authors hit the bullseye on first try, but even those who say they were shot to success will tell you they were working hard on all the things until the one thing bumped them to the next level. The question you have to figure out is the “one thing” that will propel you to the next level?

What are your current marketing strategies? Please share here and in the Marketing and Promotion group here at Write with Harte.