Booking Authors: Advice from the Pros

In 1993 Baker & Taylor issued a 79-page directory listing 140 libraries across the country that were "ready, willing, and able to host author readings and events." In distributing copies of Authors in Libraries: A Guide for Publishers to some 200 members of the Publishers Publicity Association (PPA), B&T sought to encourage publishers to book more of their authors in libraries as part of publicity tours. Despite the excitement that the directory generated among publishers and library programmers, B&T's promised updates never materialized, and now, almost ten years later, many of the misperceptions that publishers and librarians have long held about each other still exist—at least when it comes to working together to set up author events.

At a meeting last fall of Nassau County, NY, library programmers, Judy Feldman, retired head of programs at the Oceanside Library, complained that publishers acted as gatekeepers, coming between authors and libraries. Likewise, Susan Englese, conference coordinator for the Vermont Library Association, recounts with some indignation that when she recently tried to book a particular writer for the association's annual convention, the publicist told her, "We want our authors writing, not speaking to libraries." And Tom Dydyk, executive director of the Friends of the Central Library of the Onondaga County PL, Syracuse, NY, recalls that "when we first started our lecture series in 1995, not even agents would return our calls."

Publishers' protests to the contrary, the number of author appearances scheduled in the nation's some 16,000 public libraries (including branches) remains small compared with other venues such as bookstores and museums. While houses with active library marketing departments like Random House and HarperCollins regularly set up a number of author events with libraries (HarperCollins does about 25 each year), other publishers do far fewer. According to Viking Penguin's Associate Director of Publicity Judi Kloos, the company will usually book three to eight library events a year. "It depends on the list and the season, on the number of requests that we receive, and on how extensive the tours are. It sometimes can run up to 15 events a year."

Publishers are not unaware of the valuable role libraries play in the promotion of their books. "From a strategic standpoint, marketing to libraries is essential if you want to establish a backlist—for books that are going to have a life beyond that single month in the bookstore," says Newmarket Press President Esther Margolis. "Librarians are wonderful for word of mouth. When they tell their patrons how much they like a particular book, they are communicating to potential book buyers."

Yet many publicists remain stuck in the traditional mindset of what Perseus's Carduff calls "booking media first, bookstores second, and libraries third." Arlynn Greenbaum, a publishing veteran who now runs her own author speakers bureau, recalls that when she was doing publicity at Wiley and Little, Brown, she was so busy focusing on the media that she barely had time to deal with library requests for authors. (Ironically, she now works with many libraries, Friends groups, and state library conferences in booking authors for their programs.)

Newmarket's Margolis attributes the disconnect to the gradual separation of library and educational marketing from trade marketing during the 1980s. When she was head of marketing at Bantam in the 1970s, publicity, advertising and promotion, and educational marketing were all under one umbrella. "We always used library events and conventions as part of our overall strategy," comments Margolis, "but today so many companies have publicists dedicated to media bookings and planning. They don't do marketing, unless they are the heads of the division or their bosses ask them to look at the library market."

Other publishers disagree with Margolis's assessment. "Our publicists are taught to find the best venues for our books," says Louise Brockett, VP and director of publicity for Norton. "In one case, it might be the New York Public Library, in another, it might be the American Museum of Natural History." But there are many smaller city libraries on the book circuit that get ignored. In some houses, publishing personnel like Elizabeth Fabian, Random House's associate library marketing director, and P.J. Campbell, Wiley's events manager, are devoted to being liaisons between libraries requesting authors and the publicists handling those particular writers.

Yet the name of the game in arranging author tours is still media attention and book sales. "Our whole goal is to get the best exposure for our authors and to sell their books," says Penguin Publicity Director and VP Maureen Donnelly. Although libraries can offer a better physical space than bookstores to attract a crowd and media—"Certainly it's better to have a crowd in an auditorium than standing between aisles two and three," acknowledges Norton's Brockett—publicists still believe that libraries are not as media savvy or as equipped to handle large audiences as other venues.

However, a quick skim through the old Authors in Libraries directory reveals that many libraries have connections to a wide range of media: newspapers, magazines, radio stations, and commercial and cable television. And what bookstore can boast its own TV show? Amy Small, manager of external relations for the Westchester Library System (WLS), NY, organizes two annual literary events: a book and author luncheon in April that attracts about 500 people and an African American literary tea that commemorates Martin Luther King Jr. Day. A month or two before each event, she will arrange for the scheduled authors to be interviewed by WLS Director (and current American Library Association president) Mitch Freedman on the library system's monthly cable TV show.

Having been burned by past unsuccessful experiences, many publishers also labor under the impression that most libraries don't sell books. "The biggest obstacle for us is some libraries don't want their events to be a book-selling venue," states Viking President Clare Ferraro. "When we are juggling requests, and one venue tells us we can sell books and another says no, well, you can guess where we'll go."

While some libraries don't sell books, many do. As long ago as 1993, two-thirds of the libraries listed in the B&T guide indicated they were willing to sell books themselves or in partnership with their Friends group or a local bookstore. And Ferraro has to admit that her publicity director was convinced that an event at the Newport Beach PL, CA, helped propel Susan Vreeland onto the Los Angeles Times best sellers list.

One obstacle publishers face is that they are unaware of where to send their authors. Cambridge, MA–based Carduff, who has made local library connections in Boston and New York City, says she doesn't know where to start. "If I knew more about library programs and who to contact," she says, "I would be happy to do it."

Carduff's dilemma highlights a problem shared by other publishers that the old B&T directory had hoped to resolve: identifying libraries that have author programs, including the number of people the library can hold, successful events, media attention, and whether books will be sold. An informal e-mail survey to LJ's publicity contacts found that many publishers learn about libraries that run programs through event requests from librarians, word of mouth from other publishers and booksellers, and authors who have connections with their local libraries. "We don't take the initiative," comments one publicist, "the libraries come to us."

Even houses that actively pitch a particular season's list tend to deal primarily with libraries where they have developed successful working relationships. These are usually the large systems that have well-established and well-known author series. Viking Penguin's Kloos explains, "A lot of times I will pitch the list by phone or in person to the New York Public Library (NYPL), Free Library of Philadelphia, Chicago Public Library, and Los Angeles Public Library (LAPL)."

Vintage/Anchor VP and Publicity Director Russell Perreault likes to work with these libraries, too, because they excel at putting together successful programs. "They are set up to pull in crowds and sell books. They do great events because they have someone dedicated to programming and outreach to bring in the audience." These include Louise Steinman, director of cultural programming at LAPL, who comes to New York once a year to meet with publicity directors like Brockett in her search for authors for the library's active Hot Off the Press series (which features five to seven writers a month throughout the year).

"Once a library has a successful event with us," says Ferraro of Viking, "they are on our radar screens forever." And that goes for relatively unknown libraries as well. Ferraro was so impressed with the Newport Beach PL's program that she is eager to book authors there again. "They operate like a big library in terms of the things we think make a difference," she says.

Although they rely on the tried-and-true, publishers also seek new venues. "We are always looking to grow our network of library contacts," says HarperCollins Associate Director of Academic and Library Marketing Virginia Stanley. In the hopes of attracting more author requests from libraries, Algonquin Books is revising its web page to include a special site for librarians similar to the one it aims at booksellers. "Right now I can count on both hands the number of librarians who have contacted us for events," says Associate Publisher Ina Stern.

To promote backlist titles, paperback reprints, and other books that don't have tour budgets to library reading groups, Penguin's Donnelly wants to experiment with phone or online author tours. She has done a similar event (for the John Steinbeck centennial) at a Virginia library. Donnelly remarks, "Patching authors via phone or the Internet would be helpful and cost-effective for libraries that are not located within the radius of a regular tour."

Still, the efforts by Stern and Donnelly rely on the passive "you call us, we can't call you" routine. (See Get in Touch, p. 35, on how to contact publishers quoted in this article.) Publicists complain they are too busy to investigate libraries actively and contact them. Perseus, for instance, has only two publicists to handle 60–75 books a year.

Membership in FOLUSA is one solution to this information gap. Stanley firmly believes that only when HarperCollins joined FOLUSA's Publishing Committee in 1990 did the publisher become actively involved in bringing authors to library conferences and library events.

What is generating real excitement among publishers is the recent announcement of the new Authors@Your Library web site. A joint project of the Association of American Publishers, American Library Association, FOLUSA, and Library Journal, this site will eventually be a searchable online database for both librarians seeking authors for their programs and publicists trying to find venues for their authors. Right now, there are web forms online for both librarians and publishers to fill out that will populate the database. (The site is temporarily accessible at www.ala.org/publicprograms/authors@yourlibrary but will be hosted by LJ, Publishers Weekly, and School Library Journal in conjunction with their Authors on the Highway service.)

In adddition, the Mystery Writers Association (MWA) hopes to help bridge the gap with the MWA Libraries Database, which exists in a short form now and will eventually be available at www.mysterywriters.org . The service will help writers who are MWA members access information about libraries that are looking for mystery writers to speak. Efforts like these will contribute to a better connection between publishers on the lookout for good venues for their authors and libraries on the lookout for good authors for their venues.