Prepare the library pitch
Create a library-ready book information sheet
Prepare a one-page sheet with everything a librarian needs to evaluate and order your book: identifiers, formats, ordering channels, subject headings, reviews, and audience.
Authors often hire help with this: library or cataloging.
Why it matters
Librarians evaluate hundreds of titles and have minutes for each. A sheet that gives them the ISBN, the channel, the subject headings, and a trade review excerpt in one glance can be acted on; an email with a cover image and enthusiasm cannot. The sheet also forces you to confirm the ordering facts before you claim them.
Your part
- What you do
- Do it. You normally do this yourself.
- Who normally owns it
- Author and Publicist. Author or publicist writes; publisher supplies metadata on request
- When
- Before library outreach begins, and updated as reviews arrive (Prepare the library pitch: three months before publication, before you contact any library)
Your part changes with your publishing route.
How to do it
The full walkthrough
A library-ready information sheet is a one-sheet written for acquisitions and collection development staff rather than for readers or booksellers. It answers, in the order a librarian thinks, the questions that decide whether a book is bought: what is it, who is it for, is it reviewed, and how do we order it. It is the attachment to every library email and the handout at every library visit.
The contents are specific. Title, subtitle, author, publisher, and publication date. Each format with its ISBN, price, page count or running time, and binding. The ordering channels: which wholesalers carry the print, which platforms license the digital editions. The Library of Congress Control Number and subject headings if you have them, and the BISAC subject codes. Audience and reading level, especially for youth titles. Professional review excerpts with outlet names, or a note of pending trade reviews. A short description, two or three sentences, without marketing adjectives. Awards and any local or subject connection that gives a library a reason to hold it. Contact details.
On any path the author or a publicist usually builds this, because publishers produce sell sheets for booksellers, not librarians, and the two are different. A traditionally published author can start from the publisher's sell sheet and add the library fields; ask for the metadata you do not have. A hybrid author does the same. A self-published author writes it from the Book Identity Sheet, and the discipline of filling in every field is a good check on whether the library channels actually exist.
Keep it to one page, dated, and updated when reviews arrive or formats change.
Common mistakes
- Sending the bookseller sell sheet, which lacks the fields librarians need.
- Marketing adjectives instead of a plain description and audience statement.
- Missing ISBNs for some formats.
- Claiming a channel you have not confirmed.
- Two pages when one was the point.
Identifiers for Create a library-ready book information sheet
Set a status on any record and it joins this step. All book identifiers.
| My status | Identifier | Why this matters | Yours |
|---|---|---|---|
| BISAC Subject Headings The standard list of subject category codes used in the United States and Canada to decide where a book is filed and shelved. | These codes decide which category paths your book lands in on retailer sites and, in a physical store, often which section it is shelved in, so a wrong or retired code can leave readers unable to find it by browsing. The codes travel inside the metadata feed, so one choice reaches many channels at once. Traditionally and hybrid published authors normally ask which codes were assigned and raise a concern if the book has landed somewhere wrong; if you publish the book yourself, you choose them in your platform's category fields. Record the current codes assigned to the book and check that they describe what the book honestly is. | Add your BISAC code | |
| LCCN and the PCN program A free Library of Congress catalog number you can print on the copyright page, if you request it before the book is published. | A number printed in the book makes it easier for a library cataloger to match your book to a catalog record, and that is the whole benefit. It is worth being clear about what it isn't: having one doesn't mean the Library of Congress holds your book, it doesn't oblige any library to buy or catalog it, and it isn't copyright registration. Traditionally and hybrid published authors normally ask whether a number was requested, often as part of the publisher's Cataloging in Publication request, and record it when it arrives; a United States self-publisher who meets the program's rules normally applies through the Author Portal before the book is printed. Record the number, print it in the form the Library specifies, and send the required finished copy after publication. | Add your LCCN |
A template for this
Library purchase-process inquiryA brief, respectful note asking a library how it prefers to receive information about a new book, rather than asking it to buy one.
When to use it: Use this when you have read the library system's published policy and found no clear route for authors, or the policy says to contact a selector. Send it to one appropriate person, once. Do not use this when the published policy already answers the question. Follow the policy instead, and never send this to every branch.
What done looks like
- One page with identifiers, formats, prices, ordering channels, subject headings, audience, review excerpts, and contact details.
- Written in plain description, without marketing language.
- Ordering channels stated accurately, confirmed with the publisher or a librarian.
- Dated, and updated as reviews and formats change.
- Available as a PDF to attach and to print.
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