Sell Your Book with Your Index!
How an index will help sell your book to libraries
Even though there are over 120,000 libraries in this country, each library has to be selective in what books it buys. This is because nearly every library in the US serves and institution or a local community. So, most libraries have an “acquisitions policy” which spells out what kinds of books they buy and what kinds they don’t. An index for nonfiction books is generally one of the criteria for library purchasing.
Getting positive book reviews is another hoop your book may have to jump through. Librarians regularly turn to reviews when choosing books. Reviewers at the particular review sources librarians use for book selection will also place a great value on a book having an index. The reviewers may even point out whether a book has a great index…or no index at all! This is why your index should be one that will help sell your book!
In addition, nonfiction books that help answer questions that library patrons ask at the library must have a good index. These books go into a special section of the library called the Reference area. Busy librarians in this area need to be able to get at information quickly. Your book could be the best one out on your subject, but if it can’t be accessed instantly, it won’t be bought for Reference area use.
What’s the very best way to sell your book using your index? The best way to sell a book using your index is to put a copy of your index on a WordPress blog site for your book.
You can also put up your table of contents. You too can do what Amazon does with its “Look Inside!” feature.
Just take a screenshot of a PDF file of each page of your index or contents. Then upload the images of those PDF pages to your site. On a blog site, you can do this in only minutes. For an example, see the index to my new book, Marketing Your Book to Libraries: An Insider’s Guide for Authors.
Your nonfiction ebook needs an index as well. If it is a good resource for librarians to use in their Reference area, they’ll want it to be available and quickly accessible by its index. I know it may be difficult to think of reference librarians of the future walking around with an iPad, Nook, or Kindle or even a cellphone-sized device instead of standing or sitting with a desktop computer and bookshelves full of books nearby, but that is a most likely scenario for future libraries!
Why Sell your Book(s) to Libraries!
Why create a Home(page) Just for Your Own Book!
