Why Libraries?
Public libraries are a significant, frequently overlooked market for book sales:
- Libraries spend more than $1.6 billion on books every year.
- Libraries are not in competition with bookstores. Think of libraries as an additional market for your materials.
- An entire segment of the population that regularly visits the public library never enters a bookstore.
- With independent bookstores closing, libraries are a much underutilized market for publishers and authors.
- Library sales are final: no returns!
- Libraries are not as focused on short-term results: longer shelf-life for materials.
- Libraries buy multiple copies of books and buy books to replace frequently checked out books.
- Library use skyrockets during tough economic times, with more people borrowing books from the public library rather than purchasing them.
- A 2010 Harris Poll showed that 65% of Americans used their library in the past year either in person, by telephone, or by computer.
- A 2008 CNN/U.S. News poll found that Americans make 3.6 billion visits to the library per year; 80% borrow books from the library on a regular basis.
