Confirm library distribution routes
Identify public-library acquisition channels
Before you contact a public library, know how it can order each format of your book. A willing librarian still needs a wholesaler or lending platform the library already uses.
Why it matters
In my outreach, the librarians who replied were glad to consider a local author, and the thing that stopped them was almost never taste: it was that the book wasn't in a channel they buy from. Knowing your channels before outreach means every purchase suggestion, every email, and every conversation can end with a sentence that tells the librarian how to order. That sentence is the difference between goodwill and a copy on the shelf.
Your part
- What you do
- Ask. Someone else normally owns it. Get an answer, then record it.
- Who normally owns it
- Publisher and Author and Distributor. Publisher or distributor sets up the channels; author identifies and records them
- When
- Before library outreach begins (Confirm library distribution routes: six to three months before publication, before you ask any library to buy)
Your part changes with your publishing route.
How to do it
The full walkthrough
Public libraries buy books through a small number of channels, and a library's acquisitions staff will only order what those channels supply. For print, that means library wholesalers such as Ingram, Brodart, and Bookazine (Baker & Taylor, long the largest, ceased operations in early 2026), often with processing and cataloging services attached, and sometimes a direct account with a large publisher. For ebooks and audiobooks, it means the library lending platforms (OverDrive and its Libby app, hoopla, cloudLibrary, and others) which license digital copies from publishers and aggregators under terms the library did not choose.
Identifying your channels means answering, for each format: which wholesalers carry it, which digital platforms license it, and on what terms. A print edition available through Ingram's print-on-demand network is orderable by most libraries. An ebook exclusive to one retailer is not lendable by any library. An audiobook distributed only to consumer retailers is invisible to library audio platforms.
The channels come from the distribution and digital licensing decisions made for each format, so find out what those were and write the answers down. Ask specifically about library wholesalers and library digital platforms: consumer availability is a different question, and an ebook that is for sale everywhere can be lendable nowhere. If the choices are yours, they are made when you pick your platforms, which means a print route with wholesale availability, an ebook distributor that supplies library platforms, and an audio distributor that reaches library audio services.
The result is a short paragraph you can send a librarian: 'The hardcover is available through Ingram and Brodart; the ebook and audiobook are on OverDrive and hoopla.' Without that paragraph, outreach is a conversation with no ending.
Common mistakes
- Assuming consumer availability means library availability, especially for ebooks and audio.
- Pitching libraries before knowing the channels, then having no answer to 'how do we order it?'
- Forgetting that ebook exclusivity with a retailer removes the book from library platforms.
- Not asking a librarian, who can check every channel in minutes.
Identifiers for Identify public-library acquisition channels
Set a status on any record and it joins this step. All book identifiers.
| My status | Identifier | Why this matters | Yours |
|---|---|---|---|
| Baker & Taylor (closed) A former U.S. library wholesaler that closed in January 2026; this record is kept for history, not as a route to libraries. | Older advice tells authors to get their book into Baker & Taylor, and following it now costs you time for nothing. The live question is which wholesaler each library uses today and whether your book is orderable there. Ask the library which wholesaler it uses now. Common current routes include Ingram, Brodart, and Bookazine, but the library's own answer controls. Traditionally and hybrid published authors normally ask the publisher or distributor which library wholesalers now carry the book. A self-publisher normally checks that Ingram availability is in place, since that is the usual route into library wholesale. The useful answer now is the name of a wholesaler through which a library can actually order your book. | Nothing to record | |
| Ingram The wholesale catalog most bookstores and libraries order from, plus IngramSpark, the self-publishing platform that feeds into it. | This decides whether a bookstore or library can order your book through the channel most of them use, and on what terms, so when a shop says it cannot order your book this is usually where the answer sits. Ingram's data also reaches many retailers and library vendors, so an error in the record can surface in several places. Traditionally and hybrid published authors normally ask whether the title is in Ingram wholesale, at what wholesale discount, and whether it is returnable, since those are the two terms a bookseller checks before ordering; if you publish the book yourself, you set the discount and the return policy in IngramSpark, and both have real money attached. Get the discount and return terms in writing, then check that the title record matches the other major listings. | Nothing to record |
What done looks like
- For each format, the wholesalers and digital platforms that supply it, confirmed with the publisher, distributor, or a librarian.
- Gaps identified (a format not available to libraries) and either fixed or accepted knowingly.
- A one-paragraph ordering note ready to include in every library contact.
- The channels recorded in the Book Identity Sheet with the date confirmed.
Ask your publisher
Copy this into an email. Replace the bracketed parts with your details.
Sources and last checked
- Official source
- No single official page for this step.
- Last checked
- Not checked against its source yet.
- How confident we are
- Verified