How Do You Start Selling Your Ebook To Libraries?

One of the simplest (and easiest) methods in selling your ebook to libraries is to get someone else to do it for you. :)

There are too many hoops that you have to jump through if you do it yourself.

I don't want to learn another websites features. Their do's and don'ts. I don't want to keep up-to-date with their policies and procedures. The time spent on that can be used to create more content/ ebooks. Time, for me, is the factor that makes me pursue companies that can do the job much better and seem to be focused solely on that.

Luckily there are companies that want that headache and they don't get you to pay for it. All they deduct is a small percentage of your book amount

Do you think you are going to get rich from libraries?

For me I tend to reduce the price so that Libraries can get my book. But that is a one off sale. It isn't like Amazon where you get a certain percentage for each lend. Once they have your book, it's theirs. But. It does something else.

It allows funnelling to your website.

Just think how many people are going to look at that book, take it out, show friends? Many if you get the right subject.

I personally have bought books because I have found them in the library and then bought more products from that author. That value increase/ customer is what you are trying to achieve.

Start selling your ebook to libraries?

Smashwords is the sleeping giant in this area. Not too many people have heard of it and it looks like it is a basic website but it offers so many powerful features that are essentially free. It is also free to sign up.

So far my book has been bought 15 times from various libraries. This in turn has indirectly used off-site traffic generation for that accompanying website. It has also increased my profile/ credibility.

My cost?

Nothing- all done on autopilot. Anything that is bought is put on my Smashwords account.

Above is my book, the Diabetic Footcare Bible (nice plug :)) As you can see, you can set up 2 prices. One normal that people see and one for the library.

I always make the library one cheaper because...libraries need a break and as I said, you only get one sale per library.

Here's Smashwords thoughts on library pricing, direct from their website:

About library pricing: The default price for libraries is your retail price. Our new library pricing option allows you to set special pricing for public libraries. Many Smashwords authors and publishers recognize the platform-building potential of libraries to introduce them to new readers who will then either purchase other books by the author at retailer, or who will encourage their libraries to purchase more copies. Some authors want their books distributed for free to any library that wants the books, others price their books less than the regular retailer price to encourage library adoption, and some authors price them higher. This is your decision. Our view is that authors who support libraries will build platforms (author brand, fans) faster than those who don't.

What are the fees if I sell ebooks to libraries?

Because a company sorts out the complications of sending your book to another company and dealing with everything that can change, they charge a small fee. That fee seems large but for me, it is peace of mind. Those library sales occurred when I was working on something else. It was on autopilot.

They also send your book to library aggregators. This is where libraries deal with one company (the aggregator) who themselves deal with multiple different companies that supply the books.

I set my Diabetic book at 3.99 for libraries- you can see where you can change the price. When you type in a price then the pie chart changes and shows you your percentage take.

What you will notice is that the more people that are within the chain the less the author gets. Which sounds bad but no-one works for nothing. The extra payments increases your distribution so hopefully you increase initial sales- or backend sales through links from the ebook to your website.

It is also worthy to note that most companies look down upon affiliate links within your text. Most won't allow the book or with remove the link completely. [Affiliate links are links to a product or recommendation where the authors gets a percentage of that product sale if the person buys].

I'd like to start selling ebooks to libraries. So what do they look for?

I have a couple of books listed with Smashwords that libraries can buy and I find that libraries, just like everyone else, find their books based on:

the amount of people looking for that book/ traffic to a book
the title and appearance of the book
decent content amount
depending upon the topic- pictures/ graphs etc
a home page for the book
a professional front page
a topic that people would search for.

If you really wanted to get into libraries then visit one. Ask the librarian what books are seen/ checked out most. Look through the aisles and see what topics are close to yours.

This is also a good way to figure out if people are willing to look for a book and to buy one. If the library has got it, then people are looking for that topic. And vice versa- there is a very high chance that Tony Robbins is in the library because he is well known and people are looking for him. People can request, they can also ask librarians about certain books. With enough interest they buy in content.

Another theory is that libraries want to give the public the fullest information about a certain topic. My Diabetic book is all foot encompassing. But if I just chose one aspect about Diabetic feet, I very much doubt that it would be accepted.

So "how to be good at article marketing" probably wouldn't be on their shelves. But, "The Complete SEO Handbook" would.

Want more ideas, theory and how-tos on eProduct selling? Check out the Jasonera blog.