Acquiring self-published material: Challenges and opportunities for libraries
by Ellen O'Dair
The phenomenon of self-published books has emerged over the past decade. Authors are able to skip the timely process of submitting books to publishers, waiting for approval or rejection, and the entire editing process, and publish their writing independently—especially online. There are hundreds of thousands of self-published books released every year, however, they are noticeably missing from library collections. Why?
Challenges
"If it isn't good enough to be accepted by a publisher, it doesn't belong in the library"
Unfortunately the perspective that self-published books are poorly written, low quality works written by amateurs is still prevalent. This often makes libraries ignore self-published books. (Apparently the success of 50 Shades of Grey doesn't count...)
Missing information
Self-published books do not go through the formal editing and publishing process, meaning that they lack metadata, cataloguing information and reviews.
There are rarely professional reviews for self-published books, which librarians would normally use to vet books and determine whether their patrons would be interested. Without proper metadata or reviews, librarians often need to read large sections of a book to find out the genre, the age group it should be directed towards, etc. In the legendary words of Rihanna, "work work work work work!"
The sheer volume of self-published books
With hundreds of throusands of self-published books being created every year, looking for books the library would be interested in acquiring is like looking for a needle in a haystack. Without metadata their discoverability is already low, and librarians would also need to sort through many low-quality books just to find one they wanted. Ain't nobody got time for that!
Opportunities
Collaboration between libraries
David Vinjamuri has proposed a collaborative network where each public library in the country reviews one self-published book a month. In the USA, that would be 16,000 self-published books reviewed each month! Libraries could then share the books they thought were good quality with other libraries, and a network of interesting, well-written, and professionally reviewed self-published books would be available.
Goodreads
Public librarians can look at alternative review sites for information, particularly Goodreads. Goodreads contains user reviews and ratings for books, including a wide range of self-published books. While these are not professional reviews, it is still better than nothing. After all, the books that are popular with readers are often not be the classic definition of good literature anyways.
Partnerships
Libraries can create partnerships with self-publishing providers, such as Smashwords and Author Solution. This will increase the discoverability of works and the ease with which libraries can order them. There is also the opportunity to then promote self-publishing with library patrons – such as holding writing and self-publishing classes. The Los Angeles Public Library has partnered with a self-publishing software called SELF-e, and has encouraged patrons to write. Their patrons can submit their work to SELF-e and it will be available to other library patrons right away. The Los Angeles Public Library has used self-publishing to change from being only a book provider to a facilitator for creation.
Interested?
My book chapter "Acquiring Self-Published Material: Challenges and Opportunities for Libraries" in Moving Through the Grey: Publishing in Action contains an in-depth look at the challenges and opportunities that libraries face with acquiring self-published books. Check it out!