It’s a long, heavy haul for indie authors. Having 22 books published by traditional publishing houses was no gravy train when it came to marketing, but selling indie books is more difficult times 1000. Really.
Yesterday I stopped by the local library and dropped off a copy of my latest book, Moving Targets, a middle grade novel that explores bullying. The “purchaser” for children’s was not in, so I left a note that asked her to please contact me if she wasn’t going to add the book to their collection.
The call came today. It seems that the policy for acquiring books requires that the book be reviewed in one of the major review periodicals. It didn’t matter that the library has all of my other books, or even that I am a local author. It was just, “No, thank you.” Polite, but no just the same.
As a writer, I deal with rejection all the time. Much of what I write I don’t like at all. I have to come to like it, by a continual process of edit/revise. And then, when I finally get to liking it I send it out to publishers and most of the time they don’t like it. It’s all part of the program. You get used to it, but not really.
This rejection was particularly difficult, given the connection and history I have with this library. I did my best to reframe and refocus my attention as the day went on. I rode my bike, I washed the car, I listened to the news. And then the other call came. It seems that there is some flexibility in “the policy” and that they would like to add my book to their collection.
With all the burdens in the world, this may be silly, but a burden lifted from me during that call. I was thankful for the revised decision as well as the choice I had made earlier not to be confrontational, as anger for me often covers the sadness.
A long time ago I made the decision to write for the long haul. I knew it wouldn’t be easy, but it’s harder than I ever imagined. Librarians, here’s a simple request from a simple author: Please don’t rely only on the review journals to select books. Use your own judgment. You love books; that’s why you’re where you are. Be open to non-traditional publishers. Consider the works of local authors. Sure, it’s a little more work but not that much. Especially if you’re in it for the long haul.
Thank you very much.
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