Editorial: The Library Market

“I am one of the publishing execs who benefited from libraries but ignored them,” acknowledged Tom Dunne, publisher and editor of the eponymous Thomas Dunne Books of St. Martin's Press, at a panel at BookExpo America in June. Now he's found the library market. “Libraries are probably our second biggest customer” after Barnes & Noble, he said, citing sales figures from Baker & Taylor.

Dunne's comments reconfirmed what former LJ publisher Fred Ciporen said years ago, and what former LJ editor Nora Rawlinson, Hachette VP of library services, reiterated: If you say the word “library” to people on the street, they say books. If you say “library” to publishers, they say Baker & Taylor. That's because, as Rawlinson pointed out, unlike booksellers, who make their first buy directly from the publisher, librarians buy through distributors like Baker & Taylor. As a result, publishers “don't see librarians' impact on the bottom line,” said Rawlinson, who organized the panel.

The lack of direct contact also means that publishers don't understand librarian jargon. “When we say collection development,” explained Rawlinson, who occupied that role herself at Baltimore County Public Library, “we just mean buying books. Readers' advisory? That's handselling.”

There's more, however, to the disconnect between publishers and librarians than jargon. As Dunne said, “I don't know Mimi in Dayton or Barbara in Brooklyn,” the latter a reference to his co-panelist Barbara Genco, director of collection development at Brooklyn PL. Nor does he know, necessarily, that librarians buy multiple copies of titles. Many publishers, said Rawlinson, still think libraries buy single titles. While librarians buy multiples of best sellers, they have the most impact on books that aren't best sellers: first novels, genre titles, and so-called midlist books.

Publishers don't begin to recognize how libraries influence book sales beyond the blockbusters. “We buy many, many copies of books,” not just new titles, either, but replacements for old, worn, dirty copies, said Leslie Burger, Princeton PL director and then-president of the American Library Association (ALA). “We have these wonderful marketing tools called web sites,” Burger said, somewhat tongue-in-cheek.

Librarians have been singing the library market song for a long time. Nearly 14 years ago, LJ's Barbara Hoffert did a cover story on St. Martin's (LJ 9/1/93) in which one editor was surprised to hear that librarians look at how well an author's book does in deciding whether to purchase the next one. Today, publishers remain surprised. In the interim, the tools librarians use to decide what and how much to buy have become even more sophisticated, as Genco pointed out.

In 1993, the then-publicity director for St. Martin's, Claudia Riemer (now Boutote), had brought authors to that year's ALA conference, compiled a list of librarians to contact about new titles, and run an ad (in LJ!) offering its authors as speakers in libraries. Dunne seems to have forgotten that earlier push, but the new head of Holtzbrinck's adult library marketing department, Talia Ross, has reminded him. (See the BEA story on p. 14ff.) In 1993, St. Martin's also did a survey that found that mysteries reviewed in publications like LJ sold well in libraries, but ones lacking reviews did not. It didn't matter if the reviews were positive or negative, though those with positive reviews did better.

Ironically, in response to a comment from one librarian that, “You publish too many books,” Dunne said, “I heard that 30 years ago when we published 200 books; now we publish 800. Who should we eliminate? It's not too many books but a dearth of reviews.” LJ's Hoffert notes, however, “Publishers tell us they need the reviews desperately, but they don't support book review sections,” alluding to the demise of newspaper review sections.

The efforts of excellent adult library marketing departments at a number of publishers over the last 15 years have made a difference, but obviously not a big enough one. Libraries may not be “in the business of selling books,” as Burger said, “but we are in the business of peddling books.” We bring readers to books. “Libraries,” Rawlinson contended, “potentially are the next big promotion vehicle for publishers.”