Week 15 prompt

I think there are two major arenas when it comes to marketing a fiction collection (or any collection) at the library. You have the physical world and the digital one. And both can be equally important and equally powerful if you use them right.

1) Book displays are the basic, go-to library marketing tool, which is most likely because they work and don't cost much. They are versatile, can be used for anything from children's picture books to complex works of non-fiction and anything in between. But I think these displays could be included in a library's website or blog as well. Pictures of the book covers are easy to come by, and most blogs etc make it pretty easy to turn an image into a link. They click the book and it takes them wherever you want them to go. The library's page for the item. The kirkus review of it. The book trailer. Goodread reviews. A library blog post talking about that specific book with a list of read-alikes. etc etc. While browsing the shelves is easily my favorite thing to do, the truth is, I, and many people, just don't have the time to do it in person. I go to the library to pick up holds and return books. All of my searching is done online and I would definitely make use of a display like that.


2) Utilize book trailers! Whether they are a part of your digital book display or part of a blog post reviewing the book, or just something you post to your facebook wall, a book trailer is a living breathing view of the book, made by the publisher to get people to read it. It's a pretty sweet piece of free media for a given book. I've talked about the book Steelheart several times this semester, so let's try that one.

Add some descriptive words: Revenge, Murder, Super-villains, Non-stop action!
And a link to the library's page: Check it out!
And there you have it. Fast, easy, and eye catching, it's an awesome foot in the door of people's attention spans.

3) Don't just offer RA services, promote them. Host a Reader Advisory day once a month for people to come in and "get their book future told" complete with crystal balls and assorted fun. Or, digitally, "You've heard of Ask a Librarian! Well why not ask a librarian what to read?" Yes, I understand that things can get lost in translation when they aren't face-to-face, but if reference interviews can be done via livechats then RA should have some success at it. Make it boldly obvious that RA is a thing people can do at the library. A lot of people I know were really surprised when I told them about taking this class, because they didn't realize that librarians could help them find fiction books to read.

4) Another idea, if you have a blog where the staff reviews or promotes books, have a Submit box where patrons can anonymously send in comments or reviews of books they've read. Then use the best ones for the blog. Or, collect groups and do a Patron Picks display on  given topic (Oh look, we have 14 romance novel reviews. Let's do that.). Since it's anonymous, and as long as it is in the Rules of Submission, you can even print them out and use them on a real life display in the library.