22 thoughts on “Another Way to Get Your Ebooks into Libraries”

1. sounds intriguing. Thanks for sharing this. The world of publishing/book distribution is constantly evolving and I’m excited to see people thinking outside the box to get books into the hands of people in innovative ways.

   • I know, right? It’s exciting. It’s a win-win for authors and libraries. Thanks, Maggie.

2. This was a new one to me. I’ll have to look more. I know about Overdrive (when I submitted, I didn’t meet their criteria, although that was some time ago). One of my publishers targets the library market with hard covers, but they weren’t up to speed on digital publishing back then.

   • Overdrive is a cumbersome system to upload to, I hear. Smashwords can distribute to them, but then you’re dealing with Smashwords.

     There’s another library connection through SELF-E and Library Journal, but they don’t pay authors a penny.

     I liked the idea of EbooksAreForever and the out-of-the-box thinking to meet author’s needs as well as provide libraries an alternative to traditional publishers charging for 20+ loans for the same ebook.

     Thanks, Terry.

     • Just FYI – I got my approval a few minutes ago. Off to see what hoops to jump through to get my books listed.

       • Yay. So happy for you. And thanks for letting us know. Great news!

3. Sounds interesting, Jordan. Do you know how many copies of a novel a library would purchase? Or how much an author could expect to make using this program?

   • Hi Elaine

     I don’t know about number of copies. There’s only one loan out per ebook, just as if it’s in print, so no mass distribution because it’s digital. Similar to how ebooks are handled now, if an ebook is on loan to a library patron, it’s checked out until it’s “returned.”

     If a library wants to serve its patrons, they’d buy multiple copies (as they probably do now).

     Through EbooksAreForever, that would be $7.99 for full novel (mentioned above) at 70% royalty per copy.

4. Really interesting info, Jordan. I had no idea libraries pay for books (I must have thought the Book Fairy delivered them to the stacks) 🙂 Any data so far on what kind of reception this initiative is getting from the libraries?

   • Hi Kathryn. Good question.

     Libraries were pretty upset over traditional houses forcing them to repurchase the same ebook after only 20 loans, as if they degrade on the shelf like print books over time. So giving them an alternative, and more competition, I think they’d be receptive if the quality of books is consistently good. Competition and “novel” ideas is good for the marketplace. My $.02.

5. Thanks for sharing this interesting new information, Jordan. I’ll be forwarding this post to many e-pubbed friends.

   • Definitely, Debbie. Please share. That’s what The Kill Zone is all about.

6. Thanks, this is a new venture that I haven’t heard of before. I’ll have to keep an eye on it. As I’m reissuing my revised backlist titles, this path might be a consideration down the road.

   • Apply now. It won’t hurt with your backlist. It’s not just for new releases, Nancy. Very easy to register and you supposedly hear back in 48 hours.

     I’m so glad I scooped people on this. Thought it was just me “in the dark.”

7. Interesting. Just signed up…we’ll see what happens.

   • They are prompt to reply, Basil. Fingers crossed for you. Your books would be an outstanding addition.

8. August Wainwright, co-founder of EbooksAreForever, gave me permission to share his thoughts on the future of his organization and its mission.

   He wrote:
   Not sure exactly what to give you on the future plans, since we’re still very early in the growth stage, but off the top of my head I’d say that libraries and the professionals who work there want indie authors to be represented in their collections. Over 50% of the bestselling ebooks are by independent authors, and patrons want access to these titles. Libraries want local authors highlighted in community collections. They want to help new writers reach new readers. And they want indie authors to be fairly compensated for the work they’ve produced.

   There’s an opportunity here to build a real community between indie authors and librarians, mutually beneficial to both. Creating that community won’t be easy and it won’t happen overnight, but we believe we’re well suited to tackle the problems that currently exist, whether it be from a technical perspective, that of a library and the issues they face, or from indie authors searching for discoverability or increased sales.

9. Here’s Joe Konrath’s blog on EbooksAreForever:

   http://jakonrath.blogspot.com/2015/03/ebooks-for-libraries.html?m=1

10. I had more questions for August Wainwright and he was gracious enough to reply and gave me permission to share:

    How are the libraries accepting EbooksAreForever? Do they see it as a viable alternative to their present resources or are they in a “wait and see” mode?

    Right now (and this gets glossed over a bit in public reports), we’re still in a beta testing period. A few different places have reported that we officially launched in March of last year (not sure where that originated from – I think it was a misquote in an ALLi report that I clarified to the reporter but he never changed), whereas others have said that we officially launched earlier this year in March of 2015. Both are incorrect.

    We’re still in a beta testing period with a select group of libraries and are tentatively set to launch later this summer / early fall. Currently, we’re undergoing a pilot program with a national library association that will allow us to further test our current features while finishing the patron apps (iOS and Android) needed for full launch.

    Essentially, the issue at play here is that outside of Smashwords/Overdrive, and the new unpaid Self-E model, libraries have no actual way to host ebooks. So if you walked into a local library and you weren’t on Smashwords, there’s little to no chance the library would be able add your ebook, even if they wanted to.

    We have to create the various hosting and infrastructure services needed to allow for all of this, while also finding ways to not charge outrageous platform and setup fees (which is exactly what is required when a library sets up Overdrive or Biblioboard, which handles Self-e).

    To get back to your questions, though, the libraries we’re working with are very accepting of what we’re doing, if not a bit skeptical that we can keep the costs so low for them (but we’re up for that challenge). A vast majority of those we’ve spoken with see it not only as viable, but as the most viable indie specific solution. The reason is a bit complex – and we’re writing a series of blog posts about that very topic, the first of which should go up tonight – but it mostly boils down to the fact that we work hand-in-hand with libraries.

    They’re the ones who’ve asked for features like a curated collection, one-click purchasing, being able to return and easily buy only the un-purchased content, simple pricing, and multiple use/copy models.

    So that’s what we’re working to deliver.

    However, for those libraries that aren’t partners in the current beta, we unfortunately have to put them into a “wait and see” holding pattern until the patron apps are ready.

    How do you reach out to libraries to let them know what’s available?

    Right now, because of the nature of the beta period, we’ve done very little marketing outside of local and national conferences. We’ve been much more focused on building the tech necessary to grow.

    When we do turn our attention to more marketing and advertising, which will be very soon, we’ll mainly approach it in two ways:
    Because the titles offered through EAF are curated, we will be marketing the collection as a whole. This is what libraries want and what gets a little lost in the discussion. To authors, it might seem great that they can simply add their titles to Smashwords and get into Overdrive. That’s a fine opinion to have but it doesn’t reflect the sentiment of librarians and those who make acquisition decisions. When Overdrive added Smashwords, they added over 200,000 indie titles to Overdrive’s already massive marketplace. Librarians were overwhelmed. From the very beginning, they’ve asked for a collection of the best indie titles (those that readers actually want), which is what we’re promising to deliver. In this way, it’s very “set it and forget it” for authors. We attempt to sell everything at once and keep the library from picking individual titles or authors (although they can if they like) so a lot of our marketing will be based on the idea of the overall collection, not individual titles or big name authors. This is also great for indies; when we added Hugh Howey, everybody else in the collection was tied together with Hugh. Same thing with any other big named indie. What helps one, helps the entire group.
    We intend to mobilize the authors within the collection to create a lasting community between indies and libraries. The two groups should be tied at the hip for various reasons and we want to help make that happen. We’re going to provide tons of free content, materials, printables, etc., that authors can tap into to help sell the collection. If you want to try to get your books into all your local or state libraries, then we’ll help make that as easy as we possibly can. Again, if any one author convinces a library to add their ebooks through EAF, you’ll most likely be helping to get hundreds of other indies in as well. That’s a very good thing.

11. This looks like a terrific program. I will most likely be applying soon!

    • Your books were made for a program like this, Sechin. Both kids and adults would enjoy your work. I love your writing.

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