Ways to Fill
Your Shelves
Without Draining
Your Budget
Laura Jones, MLS
About Me
MLS Librarian, Argos Community Schools (PreK-12)
Librarian Laura, Book Blogger (www.librarianlaura.com)
School Library Journal Reviewer
AISLE Eliot Rosewater Selection Committee
DK Advisory Panelist
“Free Book Lady”
A Look at My Library
Pre-K to 12th grade - Enrollment
under 600
Much of the collection was old &
outdated.
Very little budget. Use Scholastic
Book Fair profit & free books to
stock the collection.
It all started with a Blog...
https://librarianlaura.com/
Started with Blogger, then to Wordpress - huge
in traffic!
Connected to Twitter & Facebook, causing an increase in site activity
Also more traffic once I added tags to book reviews posts
Contests & Giveaways
Twitter (Publishers, Authors, Bloggers)
Facebook (Popular authors like Emily Giffin & Jane Green)
Bookstr (formerly The Reading Room)
Shelf Awareness newsletter
Goodreads
Read It Forward
Penguin First Flights & Penguin Young Readers Author Program
BookPage
More Contests & Giveaways
YA Focused
First in Line
NOVL
Riveted (formerly Pulse It)
Epic Reads
TeachingBooks.net Blog (many monthly contests)
Help Shape Publishing
Bookperk PageTurners
NOVLBox Winner
Twitter Winner of Skype Visit with Brooks
Benjamin
Reviews in Exchange for Books
Blogging For Books
Large variety of genres - 1 title at at time
Tyndale Blog Network
2 titles at a time
Christian fiction & NF
BookLook Bloggers
Christian fiction & NF - 1 title at a time
Booktasters
Twitter based
Multiple titles at a time - Large variation of genres
A type of gamification
Ways Kids can Review & Win Books
Penguin Rookie Reviewers
Kids can fill out a consent form, mail it in, and receive free books from
Penguin publishers to review & pass along to friends.
DOGO Books - Tons of Kids Book Giveaways from Publishers
Get Reviews Published
Look for opportunities to review for magazines, publications, and websites.
Keep the free review copies for your library!
School Library Journal
Library Journal
Local Newspapers
Serve on a Committee
A lot of work; but very rewarding!
-Help choose State Award nominees
-Keep the free books for your libraries
Young Hoosier Book Award Committee
Eliot Rosewater Award Committee
Eliot Rosewater wannabes for 2018-2019
Even More Ways to Win:
Publishers & Authors Newsletters
Adult, Children
Macmillan Library
Melville House Publishing
Publishers Standing Galley Lists
Examples: Penguin Young Readers Group,
& Simon & Schuster
Shelf Awareness newsletter
From Early Word website
How Does this Help My Library?
Librarian perks!
Access to free materials
Free Books from 2015 Summer break!
Networking with publishers & authors
Advance knowledge of forthcoming titles
to order for the collection
Free Books from 2016 Summer break!
The ABC’s of ARC’s
Marketing tools sent to reviewers, librarians, bloggers, & bookstores
Limited supply. Unfinished/uncorrected proof copies.
Don’t quote directly from them.
How to get them? (Publishers, Authors, Book Vendors, Giveaways, Blog Tours)
When finished - give away, hold contests on a blog, or Twitter. Don’t resell!
Twitter - #booksfortrade (swap with other bloggers/librarians)
Goodreads ARC Swap
Access to Early Review Copies (DRC’s)
DRC’s, e-galleys, digital editions
Edelweiss
NetGalley
First to Read (Penguin)
Ask the publishers! Send an email and be sure to say “please”.
Early Word Librarian Contact Lists (Adult, Children)
Which Blogging Platform to Use?
Blogger
https://www.blogger.com/home
WordPress
https://wordpress.com/
Tumblr
https://www.tumblr.com/
Posting reviews without an actual blog:
Goodreads
https://www.goodreads.com/
Amazon Vine
Instagram - #bookstagram
Anyone Can Be a Book Blogger!
Pick a platform
Tell everyone to check them out! Attach blog to social media outlets.
More traffic to your blog = higher chance of free books from publishers!
Tag authors & publishers for even more traffic.
Post new content regularly to keep followers coming back for more.
Be interactive - respond to comments!
Reviewing Tips
Think Goldilocks: Not too short, not too long. But, just right!
Keep the spoilers to an absolute minimum, unless you warn readers first.
Be specific about what you like and don’t like. Try to remain neutral and objective.
Suggest similar titles & authors that remind you of the book being reviewed.
Organize into categories & add plenty of tags to each post.
Post reviews on or a few days prior to pub date.
Cross-Posting to FB, Instagram, Goodreads, Twitter, Amazon
Questions?
Don’t Be Shy!
If you would like a copy of this presentation, or have any additional questions,
please let me know!
[email protected]
Twitter @laurapedenjones
librarianlaura.com
(Follow me for tons of Contests!)