Library Love
Yes, you CAN be an author and still use (and love) libraries
A few weeks ago, Jane Friedman (who knows everything about publishing), posted a piece titled “I Wouldn’t Blame Libraries for Declining Author Income.” Jane cited a recent Authors Guild study suggesting that people who likely can best afford to buy books (college educated, high income) are more frequent library book borrowers than members of other groups. The assumption, then, is that authors are earning less because of this situation. Is this, one might wonder, part of the reason many of us in this authorly business wonder how we’ll buy groceries next week?
Diving deeper into the study—and the comments on Jane’s piece, including one from Authors Guild CEO Mary Rasenberger—there’s more to it than that. For one thing, the study was about not only library borrows but also pirated books, sharing, and buying secondhand. For another, a reader who discovers a book via one of these other methods (but please, everyone, don’t choose piracy) often goes on to purchase a new copy of the book, either for themselves or as a gift.
None of this surprises me. Long ago, I made a personal decision about the “borrow/buy used vs. buy a new book” question: For the most part, my book-buying budget goes toward titles by debuts, local authors, and less well known authors.
If I want to read a hyped book or something by a big-name author, I acquire it at the library. This means I’m generally not reading the season’s “It” books when everyone else is. No biggie. I get to such books when I get to them.
What about you? Are you a borrower, buyer, or both? What compels you to buy particular books rather than others?
Notes From ALA
Library love was on full display when I was in Chicago the last weekend in June for the American Library Association conference. I attended as a guest of the Indie Author Project, a nonprofit that connects libraries and librarians with indie-pubbed authors. Anyone But Her won the 2024 Indie Author Project contest in Mystery/Thriller, and last year, IAP named me Indie Author of the Year.
I’d never before been to ALA, so it was an enthusiastic “Yes!” when IAP asked me if I wanted to join them as their guest.
What I found, among my 15,000 new best friends (trust me, librarians are your best friends) was a commitment to authors, a passion for books of all kinds, and a fierce desire to ensure books and other library services remain free and available to all.
As an aside, this type of community offering—along with emergency services, public schools, parks, recreational facilities, road maintenance, public transportation—I could go on and on—are what we mean when we talk about Democratic Socialism.
Ahem.
A Shoutout to My Childhood Library
The topic of library love wouldn’t be complete without mentioning the library of my childhood, the Field Library in Peekskill, New York. The children’s room was in the basement, it smelled kinda musty, and you got shushed by the librarian if you talked too loudly—but it was still a wondrous place where my parents took my sister and me on Saturdays to stock up on books. I’ll always remember that musty old space and be grateful for the worlds and stories it introduced me to.
What If We Step Out?
Speaking of libraries, this coming Saturday, July 11, I’ll be in conversation about This Isn’t New at the Douglas County Libraries Highlands Ranch location with novelist and writing instructor Andrea Bobotis. We’d love to see you! More info is here.
If beer and book browsing is your jam, catch me on Sunday, July 26 at the Grown-up Book Fair at Fiction Beer Company, hosted by Second Star to the Right bookstore. More info is here.
Meanwhile, in the Mountains
We had a relatively clear weekend in the central Colorado Rockies, but to the southeast, wildfires are raging; the Aspen Acres fire is currently the 7th largest fire in Colorado history. Over the past few days, I’ve noticed the air quality getting much worse—even here, over 200 miles away.
Wherever you are, please respect our shared planet by conserving resources, using care with fire and other hazards, and appreciating the beauty around us.
Hi Cynthia, I also buy ALot of books and sometimes get them from our local library. I bought your new book Anyone But Her from Bookshop.org.
I loved it! You are a great writer and I thank you for your work!
My feeling about libraries is any way of getting the public more of your books is a good thing. Also, as an author, I appreciate that libraries often buy hardcover editions. I love libraries so much, I've included them in important scenes in a novel or two. (I worked as a page and then a clerk in the New York Public Library in the 1960s. One of the branches I worked in was the George Bruce branch in Harlem -- the head librarian there was Ruth Delany. She saw me reading some science fiction, and told me about her son Sam Delany, who was just starting out as a writer. I included Ruth as a character in my first novel, The Silk Code.)