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Public Libraries Help Writers and their Readers

14 Mar

How many times have you been at a table trying to sell your books? Maybe it is a writer’s festival or maybe a church bazaar or some other event. And you get some interest in your book from someone until they look at the price. Then it is “is it available in an e-copy.” Or I don’t have enough cash on me/spent all my money/I’ll be back later when I’m leaving.”

Instead of frowning, yelling, whining or going into extreme book selling mode, why not suggest the person borrow your book from their local library branch? Maybe you don’t think about that because you figure you won’t be paid if someone reads a borrowed copy of your book.

Wrong.

If you as an author have your book(s) signed up with a Public Lending Rights Program (over 30 countries have them), you can receive royalty payments annually. Some library systems base the amount on how many times your books are borrowed or if your book or books are in the library catalogues (tcatalogues are online on most library websites). Canada follows this latter method and the payout annually has to work out to not under $50. But it can go up to $4,000. My Beyond mystery books haven’t reached a $4,000 royalty, but for last year, the amount was more than a 100 per cent increase from 2017.

Canada’s Public Lending Rights Program has a window of time to sign up – usually from sometime in February to May. And then that’s it for another year. Forms are online and are downloadable. This year the timeline ends May 1.

See here for more information on Canada’s program.

So how do you get your books into the library? Most libraries have book submission forms – in print at the branch or online, although sometimes the former are set up for  you to recommend a book by any other author who isn’t you. So get another author you know to recommend your book and you do the same for them.

The best way is to have a librarian get your book in. I have cold-called some librarians and persuaded them to carry my book. Depending on the library I may mention that I have family in their city or town (this has to be true – don’t make up stuff – leave that for your fiction books). Or I may say my books are set in their city or town or a city or town loosely based on their city or town (true for York Region just north of Toronto).

My favourite is actually doing a presentation (with other authors or on my own) or teaching a workshop at a library branch. Now, I have been doing the former for eight years and the latter six years. Particularly if the presentation or workshop is connected to your book – i.e. creating compelling fiction characters and you write fiction. Also, if you are presenting at a library, the librarians usually do order in a few copies of your book ahead of time.

Although one didn’t. So, one of the five of us crime writers reading asked the librarian if copies of our books were available in the library.

No. But they were soon afterwards.

Probably the best-case scenario is the librarian, Janet, at the library branch where I teach one or two workshops a year and my East End Writers’ Group partners with this branch to hold our meetings there. The librarian actually suggested it after we did a presentation at the library and I decided to get the group out of my house to meet and the two places after that where we met briefly went out of business. So, we are in partnership with the library with this and the program gets under the branch programs umbrella. Janet has made sure my three Beyond books are in that branch.

Of course each library system has its own methods for getting in programs and presentations. How I got into some (besides the East End Writers’ Group one) is fodder for another post.

The bottom line is getting your published books into libraries is a win-win-win situation – for your readers, for libraries and for you.

Cheers.

Sharon A, Crawford

Author of the Beyond mystery series

Available for borrowing in the Toronto Public Library system, some in the York Region Library system, etc.

And I am teaching a memoir writing workshop and doing two presentations with other authors, all in Toronto library branches. See my Gigs and Blog Tours Page on this website here to find out when and where.

 

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Posted by on March 14, 2019 in Author Reading, Beyond mystery series, Book Promotion, Public Libraries, Sharon A. Crawford

 

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Writers in Residence can help authors

08 Dec
The latest Beyond book in the series

The latest Beyond book in the series

If you are writing a novel, a short story or anything else and you want some outside feedback, consider consulting a Writer in Residence. Writers in Residence are all over – with writing groups, libraries and art clubs to name a few. Sometimes you have to be a club or organization member to talk to a writer in residence. However, usually with a library-based Writer in Residence you don’t.

I have been a writer in residence – not for a library (not yet anyway) but for the Canadian Authors Association, Toronto branch – twice – 2001 to 2003 and 2009 to 2014. So I can see this from both sides of the writing fence.

From the WiR side of the fence I have done one-on-one consultations with writers – in person, by email and on the phone. I have edited and/or evaluated a few pages of their manuscripts and had lively conversations about their marketing their stories or novel, for example. For the in-person consultations, we have met in my home office and in libraries. Yes, libraries, but not connected to library WiR. This was the CAA Toronto chapter appointment  – the earlier one.Before the regular meeting in the library auditorium, I would be available for half an hour or so for anyone who wanted to talk to me about their writing or have me take a look at something they had written. If it was a per-arranged appointment, often we met in the Food Court as this library is in a mall. And at the beginning of the CAA branch meeting, I would say a few words (up to five minutes) on some aspects of writing – writing tips. I found the whole experience very satisfying as I could help other writers and I also learned a lot from them. It’s a two-way street..

Writers-in-Residence sometimes are paid – it depends on the organization. CAA Toronto paid me, although each residency had a different payment setup.

Toronto Public Library writers in residence are paid quite well and so they should be with all they have to do. This includes spending some time in a room set aside for them a the library branch – usually one of the largest branches. They can do some of their own work, but they also use the room to consult with writers – usually for half an hour. Writers can get in to see the WiR by submitting a 20-page manuscript to the library branch at the beginning of the residency and then the library gives them an appointment time and day. This does not cost the writer anything.

Currently the Toronto Reference Library is looking for a Writer in Residence for spring 2018. This means that the twice yearly (spring and fall) WiR sessions are full for 2017. Obviously with it being December and the Christmas season, the fall 2016 WiR session is over. But here is a list of criteria for the library’s WiR

Eligibility Criteria

:

Canadian citizen, permanent resident of Canada

 

Minimum of two books in print, published by a professional publishing house, at least one of which is a memoir

 

Active in the writing profession; active online presence

 

Experience in teaching creative writing

 

Understanding of the needs of aspiring writers

 

Experience developing and delivering programs, workshops, readings

 

Working on or planning to work on a new project intended for

book-length publication.

 

That’s just it in a nutshell. And yes, I have consulted with Writers in Residence before – both with the Toronto Library and with the Toronto Heliconian Club Literature Section – of which I am a member. I have had line by line edits and comments in person, the writer pre-reading the manuscript pages and commenting on it when we met. These occasions turned into lively discussions and I learned a lot. Not only  possible changes in my manuscript but encouragement to continue writing for publication. Only once did I consult with a library WiR who didn’t resonate with my manuscript. Despite the criteria for WiR listed above, this author did not have memoir-writing experience and I had submitted 20 pages from my memoir-in-the works. So, he just didn’t get it. However, he is an accomplished and published literary fiction author so I am sure he helped many writers writing in that genre. That was a few years ago anyway.

 

So, wherever you live I urge you to find a writer in residence and make an appointment with them for whatever your writing concerns are – writing or marketing.

 

And the usual, click on the Beyond Blood graphic at the top to go to my author profile and books and where to purchase. Christmas is only 17 days away. Gulp! I have my Christmas decorations up (finally) but still have a bit more Christmas presents to buy. And for a huge lot of one of them (fudge) online shopping just won’t do. The best fudge in town is homemade fudge with no additives or preservatives which to buy I have to go to the Christmas Market at the Distillery in Toronto. Maple Fudge is the name of the company with the fudge booth there. They have a store in Niagara on the Lake and I have been there when out that way visiting cousins during the summer. But now it’s the Distillery Christmas markets where I have to also deal with the crowds. And go on weekdays or pay the $6. entrance fee on weekends from 5  p.m. Friday. Something about paying to get in to do Christmas shopping is just not right. But they do it because the weekends were getting overcrowded.

 

But I must have my fudge and it isn’t ALL for me. Some is, though. Fudge is fuel for writing energy. Or that’s my excuse anyway.

 

Happy writing.

 

Cheers.

 

Sharon A. Crawford

 

 
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Posted by on December 8, 2016 in Beyond Blood, Fudge, Public Libraries, Sharon A. Crawford, Toronto Public Library, Writing

 

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In praise of public libraries

21 May
Sharon A. Crawford's latest in the Beyond series

Sharon A. Crawford’s latest in the Beyond series available in e-copies from Blue Denim Press

Way back in the late 1980s, an editor at one of the community newspapers I wrote for used to give me assignments connected to the local libraries. He said when he thought of libraries, he thought of me.

In the past few years I have traded my journalism hat for writing mystery fiction. But what this former editor said is still true. I suspect his thoughts would apply to most writers – journalists, fiction, whatever they write.

Libraries seem to be growing – Toronto, Ontario, Canada just opened its 100th branch in the city’s east end. Although the library landscape has changed, writers and readers (the two often overlapping in the same soul), cannot live without their public library. Even if we don’t get off our duff and go inside a library as often as we used to, we do online research in library databases, download e-books to “borrow,” put holds on books (print and e-books) online, and check library websites for their events. Reminders of books coming due or holds available also arrive in our Inbox from the library. And we can read and comment on library blog postings or join online book clubs (Note: there are still in-library book clubs).

Library events will get us into the library. So will picking up print books on hold. And if you are an avid reader like me, once you are in the library, it’s like a candy store. You can’t just leave with what you came there to get. How many times have you stepped into a library to pick up one book on hold and found two or three more you just have to read? Many people don’t want to have to deal with online movies, etc. and prefer to watch a DVD. Your local library to the rescue. You can also borrow old movies, documentaries and the like on DVDs.

Public libraries are also getting into the self-publishing business. The Toronto Reference Library has the Asquith Press service for patrons who want to self-publish a book. See http://www.torontopubliclibrary.ca/using-the-library/computer-services/book-printing-service/

Don’t forget those knowledgeable librarians who can help you find obscure information in books, non-circulating reference material, online. etc., etc.

And those library events – many are workshops to teach patrons everything from computer basics to finance to writing. The latter is one way I (and other writers) connect to the librarians and library branches. For the past four and a half years I have been teaching writing workshops (fiction and memoir writing) at various Toronto library branches and I love doing so. Besides the librarians, I get to meet a lot of interesting writers and help them with their writing. Some may “follow” me (for want of a better word) to my writing critique group – the East End Writers’ Group, also held in a library branch and may come to my crime readings and presentations (with or without other Crime Writers of Canada members) at …you guessed it – library branches.

And that is a good way for us writers to connect with readers. So is getting your published book into libraries.

That’s the way it should be. You know one of the rules of writing (Rule No. ? – as Gibbs would say on NCIS) – if you are going to write, read in the genre you want to write in.

That is more than an old journalistic research trick.

I would like your comments on libraries. How do you connect with your library branch?

Cheers.

Sharon A. Crawford

 

Sharon A. Crawford is the author of the Beyond book series. More info at www.samcraw.com and www.bluedenimpress.com – my publisher – you can also purchase e-books – both Kindle and Kobo from Blue Denim Press. Click on the Beyond Blood Book cover at the top of this post.

 

 
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Posted by on May 21, 2015 in Author Reading, Beyond Blood, Blue Denim Press, Public Libraries, Sharon A. Crawford, Toronto Public Library, Writing

 

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