Tap A Major Book Market: Libraries

I have always loved libraries. When my children were small, I made a weekly Saturday morning trip to the library, sat with a large stack of children's books and read to them.

Now years later, the public library continues to be a part of my world. In the last six months, Scottsdale opened a new branch near my home and I have been making frequent trips to check out books, movies and music. I've learned to use their online system to reserve books (even some bestsellers). If you haven't been to your own library in some time, I understand because there is a great deal of information online yet knowing and using your local library is a valuable skill which I recommend to every writer. Take the time to learn how to use your local system. Make friends with your local librarians (who are a wealth of knowledge and information). It will be a boost to your own writing career.

I've published over 60 books with traditional publishers like Zondervan, Tyndale, St. Martin's Press and Alpha Books. Have you ever searched your library catalog for your own name? When I search the Scottsdale Library catalog (which is a large system), I find one book. This book has been out of print for many years and is one of about a dozen books that I wrote for someone else so my name appears in the small print--yet it does appear so I'm listed in the library.

As an author, I've read several how-to books which include chapters on how to reach libraries. The American Library Association (ALA) estimates there are more than 122,000 libraries in the United States including public libraries, academic libraries, school libraries and special libraries. In fact, more than ten percent of the book sales in the U.S. are to libraries. While I've searched, I've never found a way as an author that I can sell my books to a library. Yes, I've spoken at libraries (a good source and something I recommend to writers) but the sales question has always been a mystery to me--until I spoke with bestselling author Max Davis.

As an author, Max has sold his books to over 3,500 libraries. On Thursday, March 25th, I'm going to interview Max and he's going to give us the inside scoop about how he sells to libraries. You can hear the interview and ask a question at: AskTerryWhalin.com. If you can't attend the session, go ahead and sign up anyway because it will be recorded and everyone who registers will receive the replay link. This one technique of selling to libraries could be critical to your own book sales for this year.

To everyone who signs up for this teleseminar, they will also receive a free copy of my Ebook, Platform Building Ideas for Every Author. So head over to AskTerryWhalin.com and sign up for this free event.