Monday, March 30, 2020

Publishers, give your books a chance to become Loan Stars

If you are a publisher, you surely want your books to turn into Loan Stars? To make your book a top-notch option, you should mark it as a Loan Star. There are a lot of things you could do to make sure your titles are viewed by library staff for the Loan Stars top picks lists. Here are some useful tips to give your libros para leer their best chance.

Tip 1: Make sure your books are added to CataList

All Loan Stars voting occurs in CataList, so if your books aren't there, they can't collect votes. The library staff can vote on a book or to request a book to read. At the same time, you won't be able to observe the vote or request buttons from a publisher account.

Tip 2: Make reading copies accessible for library staff

You should make your reading copies easily accessible. Library staff can't vote for your book if they can't reach it. By the way, there is a great collection of titles available for request in a monthly newsletter. You can get reading copies in one of those two easy ways:

  • Address reading copy requests for your CataList profile. This will let library staff ask for reading copies directly from you.
  • Use a galley option such as NetGalley in order to issue reading copies faster. If you're using NetGalley, it is highly recommended to respond to requests in a timely manner and learn how to address them from Loan Star Reviewers.

Step 3: Promote forthcoming books

Publishers should encourage library staff to vote for their books by distributing bookmarks with reading copies, mentioning Loan Stars in their newsletters, as well as marking books. Here are some more ideas to be used for the promotional purposes:

  • Inform library staff about your active participation in the Loan Stars program via your library mailing lists.
  • Manage Loan Stars focused on giveaways and contests. This gives library staff an opportunity to access your books and build your library mailing list.
  • Develop CataList catalogues specifically for Loan Stars and market them to library staff. Make sure these catalogues involve books for which you have reading copies.

Step 4: Support BookNet in promoting your books

You should understand the importance of cooperation. These include the following things:

  • Communicate with them on social media such as Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram.
  • Keep them informed about your forthcoming books by sending them a list of those books at the beginning of every season.

Step 5: Participate in their online contests

Each month, library staff joins a contest to win a prize pack of three books. The winning reward is offered to one publisher at a time.

After all, publishers are expected to be creative in what they are offering. The high level of creativity is expected from them at the level of BookNet contests.